Kids without a country

DREAM Act would clear up their status

Published March 11, 2007 at midnight

Text size

More Editorials

Comprehensive immigration reform remains an elusive goal for Congress. Still, the stalemate in Washington should not preclude lawmakers from embracing worthwhile, incremental policy changes.

On Wednesday, a group of local students and community activists rallied at North Presbyterian Church in Denver to support one such advance - the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (or DREAM) Act.

The DREAM Act has been around in some form since 2001, and it would remove hundreds of thousands of youngsters from a baffling state of legal limbo. There's no excuse to delay its passage further.

As now written, the bill would allow some foreign-born children of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States without fear of deportation. To do so, they would have to satisfy several conditions: They were younger than 16 when they first entered the country; they have been here without interruption for at least five years; and they have not broken other laws. Nor is that all.

Before applying for permanent residency, they'd have to graduate from high school and complete at least two years of college or two years of military service.

Finally, the bill would let states decide whether the young adults covered by the law would qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

The DREAM Act would both affirm a basic principle of fairness - minor children should not suffer for the sins of their parents - and give states more leeway to decide what public benefits their own taxpayers provide to residents.

Supporters of the bill say each year some 65,000 teenagers enter this no-man's-land. Those who graduate from high school cannot legally get a job. They're not eligible for in-state college tuition or student aid, and we doubt their families usually have the wherewithal to afford out-of-state tuition or the cost of a private education.

To abide by the law, these young people are expected to leave their families and return to their native countries - even though they may have lived in the United States for most of their lives and English may be the only language they know.

Under normal circumstances, the minor children of illegal immigrants are not targets for deportation, unless they or their parents have gotten in trouble with the law for other reasons.

We see no reason to leave these young people in jeopardy after they become adults, and we hope the DREAM Act quickly makes its way to President Bush for his signature.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News