WASHINGTON — When it comes back into session this week for a last flurry of activity before adjourning, the Senate will consider legislation that would create a path to citizenship for students who came to the United States illegally, provided they enroll in college or serve in the armed forces.
Arkansas’ two Democratic senators are split on the issue. Outgoing Sen. Blanche Lincoln was a co-sponsor. Sen. Mark Pryor opposes the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had promised to attach the legislation to a broader defense bill under consideration in September. A vote on the defense bill was blocked, largely because it included language to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that forbids homosexuals from serving openly in the military.
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act would repeal a 1996 law that bars illegal aliens from receiving government-supported financial aid, including instate tuition, scholarships and government-backed loans, at universities unless those benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens.
The legislation would give conditional permanent-resident status to students under 35 years old who entered the U.S. before they were 16 years old, have lived continuously in the United States for five years and are of “good moral character.”
The conditional resident status would be good for six years. If, during that time, the alien completed two years of schooling and was a student of good standing at a college, or had served honorably in the military for two years, he could apply for permanent resident status.
The House has not voted on a similar proposal.
Lincoln, who lost her reelection bid in November, said the DREAM Act would not reward illegal conduct.
“The criminal activity was not the child’s,” Lincoln said. “It was the adults that brought them.”
Lincoln said that because the children who would benefit from the policy have already received a high school education, taxpayers have already invested in their potential. By qualifying for residency status, either through higher education or military service, Lincoln said the would-be recipients have proved their dedication.
“They are willing to come out of the shadows and say ‘I want to become a constructive member of society,’” she said.
Pryor said he would support a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens who serve in the armed forces but not for the others.
The proposed offer of educational benefits, he said, would deny opportunities to Arkansas students who worked hard and whose parents did not break the law.
“There’s a limited pot of money” for student loans and a limited number of spaces at state schools for in-state students. “They’d be competing against citizens and other immigrants who have been playing by the rules.”
Furthermore, Pryor said, it is unfair to offer a benefit to an alien if they have not been paying a full share of state and federal taxes.
“You can’t avoid this,” Pryor said. “You can’t sweep it under the rug - these people are here illegally. A lot of them are not paying into the system like they should.”
In 2009, a bill in the Arkansas Senate that would have given illegal aliens in-state tuition died in committee. University of Arkansas at Fayetteville Chancellor G. David Gearhart spoke in support of the measure.
And the Pentagon has included increased recruitment efforts among undocumented students as a basis for its troop level projections.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington group that advocates enforcing immigration rules and increasing border security, said creating a “mercenary force” of aliens who enlist just so they can get legal residency was a bad way to defend the country.
Passage of the bill, Mehlman said, would send the “ultimate mixed message,” to those considering entering the country illegally. That’s because, Mehlman said, it runs counter to strict immigration laws by promising rewards to those who break the rules.
He said that illegal aliens who come to the United States as children, under their parents’ direction, must still suffer the consequences of their parents’ behavior.
Mehlman also criticized Senate Democratic leadership for bringing the legislation up in the waning days of the 111th Congress.
When Congress reconvenes in January, Republicans will control the House, and they will gain Senate seats.
“The lame-duck is not the time to pass broad social legislation,” said Mehlman, who said the effort was simply a“constituency-building” exercise for Democrats who want to attract more Hispanic voters.
Rafael Arciga, a Fayetteville resident who has traveled to Washington to lobby for passage of the DREAM Act, said that providing illegal aliens with educational opportunities is the key to keeping them from a life of poverty and crime.
He came to the country illegally from Michoacan, Mexico, in 2000 as a 14-year-old to join, in Green Forest in Carroll County, his mother who entered the country illegally two years earlier to work for a poultry producer in nearby Harrison.
There wasn’t a whole lot of choice, he said. “I was a kid. I chose to be with my family.”
After an initial struggle with English, Arciga proved to be a strong student and graduated from Green Forest High School in 2004.
After graduating, he was accepted to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. But after three semesters, private funding and his mother’s savings ran dry. As an illegal alien, Arciga could not apply for loans or find a legal job.
He dropped out, and depression sank in. Once, he said, he locked himself in his room for two days, unable to cope.
In 2006, he was granted resident status and returned to school. After graduating last spring, Arciga took a job with the university. Now he’s fighting to gain for other children of illegal aliens the same opportunities he had.
Arciga said that Americans must learn to accept that millions of illegal aliens are already in the country.
“Do we want them to prosper, or do we want them to not do so well?” he asked. “It’s a no-brainer. There’s the law, and there’s doing what’s right. What is right is providing them with an education so they can contribute to the community.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/29/2010