FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2011
Contact:
Jennifer Occean
(202) 776-1732
Washington, D.C.—Today, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) commended Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and his colleagues for reintroducing the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act” and praised Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., for reintroducing their complementary version of the legislation into the U.S. House of Representatives.
The “DREAM Act” is a commonsense measure that will allow immigrant students who were raised in the U.S. and attend college or serve in the military to earn their legal immigration status. The legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last year and received a bipartisan majority vote in the U.S. Senate, but that was not enough to overcome a filibuster by opponents. Following a call made by President Obama yesterday for Congress to act, these leaders have introduced a bill that is clearly necessary from an immigration perspective, as well as from an education, economic, and military-readiness standpoint.
“This legislation will allow our nation to maintain competitiveness in the global economy by enabling students who have been raised here and who seek to be a part of a highly educated workforce the opportunity to pursue the American Dream,” said Clarissa Martínez De Castro, NCLR Director of Immigration and National Campaigns. “We continue to hear from many young people who are eager to give back to our country and who join us in calling on Congress to pass the ‘DREAM Act.’”
One student whose story represents those with high hopes that the “DREAM Act” will be approved is Emilio, a young man who was brought to the U.S. by his parents when he was six years old: “I went through elementary, middle, and high school in North Carolina, and it is the only place that I call home. I graduated from high school in 2010 as one of the top ten students in my class, as an honor student, an AP scholar with hundreds of hours of community service, and I was awarded a full-ride scholarship to my first choice university. However, unless the broken immigration system is fixed, when I graduate from college in four years I won’t be able to use my college degree. My dream is to give back to my community.”
There are many more potential beneficiaries of the “DREAM Act,” and like Emilio, they attend colleges and universities, and in some cases their extraordinary academic abilities lead them to enroll in graduate programs. Yet, they are never able to put their degrees to use for our nation’s benefit. Businesses, military leaders, and educators have long supported the “DREAM Act.” Our country has invested in the education of many of these individuals since kindergarten, and it is only proper to allow them to fully contribute through their merits and service.
“Our country needs and will benefit immensely from these young people and their talents and their drive to succeed. From a moral, economic, and policy perspective, America cannot afford to lose another generation of young people who stand to contribute to its economic and social prosperity,” concluded Martínez De Castro.
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
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