News Update - September 29, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.

Help Keep The DREAM ACT Alive

The Dream Act was supposed to come up for a vote this week. Senator Durbin introduced the legislation (S.A. 2919) on Friday, 9/21/07 in the Senate as an amendment to the 2008 Department of Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1585). The bill would benefit young people (under 30) who grew up in the USA (entered before age 16). Students who attended or who are in attendance in high school or college could be given immediate relief as conditional residents with its passage and become eligible to adjust status to permanent residence at a later date. Unfortunately, Senate Republicans blocked the action. Majority Leader Harry Reid stated he would set aside time for DREAM ACT debate in mid-November. The delay is disappointing to many advocates, but along with Agjobs, the DREAM ACT as a “narrowly tailored” bill is probably the best hope for passage of any meaningful immigration reform this year, especially given the collapse of efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The chances of passage, however, are dimmed if considered as separate legislation. The American Immigration Lawyers Association in its latest advisories stated that anti-immigration forces were reaching senators at a rate of 10-1 over pro-DREAM force advocates. More communications with Senators are required to offset the impression that the majority of the nation is against the DREAM ACT. You can keep pressure on your legislator using the “Write to Congress” tool on the bottom of our home page provided by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.


The author is a 26+ year practitioner of immigration law based in New York City. He was awarded the Sidney A. Levine prize for best legal writing at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1977 and has written extensively on immigration over the past years for the ethnic newspapers, World Journal, Sing Tao, Pakistan Calling, Muhasha and OCS. He has testified as an expert on immigration in civil court proceedings and was recognized by the Taiwan government in 1985 for his work protecting human rights. His article, "The Bush Temporary Worker Proposal and Comparative Pending Legislation: an Analysis" was Interpreter Releases' cover display article at the American Immigration Lawyers Association annual conference in 2004, and his victory in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case of first impression nationwide, Firstland International v. INS, successfully challenged INS' policy of over 40 years of revoking approved immigrant visa petitions under a nebulous standard of proof. Its value as precedent, however, was short-lived as it was specifically targeted by the Administration in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004.

This article © 2007 Alan Lee, Esq.

 

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