News Update - September 22, 2007

By Alan Lee, Esq.

Outlook on DREAM ACT Looking More Positive

Picking up steam under the leadership of author Senator Richard Durbin (D- Ill), the DREAM Act may be an achievement in immigration reform that this Congress can enact. 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). Hopes have been raised before and dashed, but pressure is now building for concrete action, and the outlook appears more positive than in prior attempts to enact the legislation.

The legislation is “narrowly tailored” according to Senator Durbin and should not upset restrictionists or enforcement advocates. The DREAM Act 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. If the provision survives in the Senate bill (requires 60 votes), the chances of final passage would be good as the legislation is largely non-controversial and H.R. 1585 is originally a House bill. There is thus no need to find companion legislation in the House of Representatives. For more information see http://thomas.loc.gov. You can contact your Senator by visiting our home page and scrolling down to the Contact Congress Icon 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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