DREAM Act would legalize illegals up to age 35

From Michelle Malkin’s column last week on the DREAM Act:

DREAM Act lobbyists are spotlighting heart-wrenching stories of high-achieving teens brought to this country when they were toddlers. But instead of arguing for case-by-case dispensations, the protesters want blanket pardons. The broadly-drafted Senate bill would confer benefits on applicants up to age 35 and the House bill contains no age ceiling at all. The academic achievement requirements are minimal. Moreover, illegal aliens who didn’t arrive in the country until they turned 15—after they laid down significant roots in their home country—would be eligible for DREAM Act benefits and eventual U.S. citizenship. And like past amnesty packages, the Democrat plan is devoid of any concrete eligibility and enforcement mechanisms to deter already-rampant immigration benefit fraud.

One of the arguments for the DREAM Act is that it is unfair to “punish” individuals who, through no fault of their own, were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. So if such individuals commit themselves to a productive life, say by having some college, we should cure the unfairness of their non-legal status by giving them legal status. In reality, under the Act someone could enter the U.S. illegally at age 15, pick up a couple of years of college in his twenties, and then, at age 30, receive permanent legal residency. How is that different in kind from simply giving any illegal alien legal status?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 22, 2010 08:26 AM | Send