The DREAMERS

DREAMERS.. WHO THEY ARE... AND WHAT IS MEANT BY DREAMERS
The DREAM Act House (HR1842) and Senate (S952) bills outline who comprises DREAMers (they are only 23 pages long and available on line).

Advocates, including President Obama, always describe DREAMers as top high school graduates who were ‘brought into the country illegally at age five by their parents and know only the U.S. as their homeland”. Indeed that is a very compelling group. If the DREAM Act were limited to them alone, it would have passed easily 10 years ago. But in fact, the DREAM legislation benefits a much broader group of illegal immigrants than that.

According to the bills, “DREAMers” include any illegal immigrant who claims they came into the country before the age of 16, has been here continuously for five years, and is currently under 35 years old. But these requirements can be waived for ‘hardship’ ((sec 5 (2)), and if there are any knowingly-made false statements about entry dates etc., section 7 of the legislation assures that the applicant would still be protected from deportation.

DREAMers have to have either obtained a high school diploma or a GED -- both of which they can do off-campus and on-line. There is no English language requirement. There is no requirement to graduate from college – only attend two years (at a four-year college) or serve (two of eight years) in the military. DREAMers can even have been convicted of various crimes and have served time in an American prison (sec. 3 (D)) and still maintain a work visa (and under the legislation, eventually get a green card). The legislation specifies that the bills set no limit to the number of beneficiaries (sec. 3 (f)).

There are over 11 million (some say 20) illegal immigrants presently living in the United States; most of them are under the age of 35. Obviously millions could qualify for DREAM Act benefits.

Trump’s softened stance on Dreamers provokes cheers, skepticism
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Donald Trump’s apparent softening of his stance on illegal immigrant Dreamers produced wildly divergent reactions Wednesday, with some activists cheering a shift while others said they don’t believe the president-elect has changed one bit, and still intends to deport migrants as soon as he takes office.
“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Time magazine. “They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The president-elect indicated he still wants to cancel Mr. Obama’s 2012 amnesty, Time reported, but did not suggest deporting the hundreds of thousands who already gained tentative legal status under the Obama program.

In the Senate, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are trying to defend Dreamers said they were “encouraged” by Mr. Trump’s new tone.
But Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a leading immigrant rights advocacy, said he’s not buying a softening in Mr. Trump’s stance.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” he said. “Recall that Trump’s supposed ‘softening’ this summer was followed by his darkest and most nativist immigration speech in Phoenix.”

House Democrats said they’re not waiting around to see which version of Mr. Trump emerges next year. Instead they demanded President Obama intervene and issue a blanket pardon to more than 740,000 Dreamers — young-adult illegal immigrants who came forward under an amnesty Mr. Obama announced in 2012.

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