The Dream Act is Dead
The U.S. Senate has failed us again. In a 55-41 vote, the Dream Act, an immigration reform measure aimed to grant citizenship to undocumented youth who attend college, has effectively been killed. The “yea” votes failed to surpass the 60 that would topple a Republican filibuster. Keep in mind that many Democrats also broke rank to voted against the bill, including Senator Max Baucus and Senator Kay Hagan. Proponents of the bill suggest that the Dream Act will be a key campaign issue in the 2012 election. The New York Times: The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would create a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrant students who came to the United States as children, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements including passing a criminal background check. The vote, 55-41 in favor of the bill, effectively kills the measure for this year, and its fate beyond that is uncertain. Most immediately, the measure would have helped grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students and recent graduates whose lives are severely restricted because they are illegal residents, though many have lived in the United States for nearly their entire lives. Young Hispanic men and women filled the spectator galleries of the Senate, many of them wore graduation caps and tassels in a symbol of their support for the bill. And they held hands in a prayerful gesture as the clerk called the roll. Read more Related Entries December 17, 2010 Tales From the Clink With Julian Assange December 17, 2010 Facebook Finds Your Face
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The Dream Act is Dead
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on December 18, 2010. Filed under