Shamnesty

The $6.2 billion DREAM Act passed the House by a vote of 216 to 198 last night; today it goes to the Senate.

Senator Jeff Sessions:

• The DREAM Act is not limited to children. Illegal immigrants under 30 who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and who entered the U.S. before the age of 16 are eligible for legal status that amounts to amnesty on the date of enactment. (Those illegal immigrants’ data could prove hard to verify and be subject to fraud.) And they remain eligible to apply at any future age, as the registration window does not close.

Neither a high school diploma nor a college degree is required; as a condition for permanent legal status, what is needed is a GED certificate and then two years of additional schooling.

• The DREAM Act would also afford some federal education benefits to illegal immigrants, including federally backed student loans and work study programs. Thus, Americans struggling to pay for their kids’ college in the midst of a recession are being asked to help subsidize benefits for the college education of those who are not even supposed to be in the country.

• The DREAM Act either bars or hinders the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from removing “any alien who has a pending application for conditional status,” even, potentially, if that individual has been convicted of a serious crime. It is difficult to estimate the damage to effective immigration enforcement that will be caused by such a provision.

• Making matters worse, the bill allows illegal immigrants with fewer than three misdemeanor convictions to remain eligible for legal, permanent status, meaning amnesty is open to those who have, for example, joined gangs, been convicted of driving under the influence, engaged in fraud or even made false claims to immigration authorities.

• Those who receive amnesty under the DREAM Act would also be able to obtain legal status and eventual citizenship for their relatives (subject to immigration law) — something reserved for lawful immigrants — even if those relatives have themselves entered the country illegally or are the ones who brought them here.

Because the DREAM Act does not expire, or impose any numerical cap, the scope of the bill’s amnesty program could be enormous. And by rewarding illegality, the legislation will incentivize even more of it — and send the message that future illegal immigrants will be rewarded with amnesty as well.