Senate Dems Renew Push For DREAM Act

[The Northerner]

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats are open to pairing the DREAM Act, a bill that would allow some undocumented young people to gain legal status, with tougher immigration enforcement measures, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said on Wednesday.

Democrats re-introduced the DREAM Act on Wednesday, on the heels of a Tuesday speech by President Obama calling for paths to legalization for some of the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. The DREAM Act is seen by many as the ideal immigration reform bill: It would allow undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children, committed no crimes and want to attend college or join the military to remain in the country legally.

But the DREAM Act is unlikely to go anywhere in the current Congress. Last session, when Democrats controlled both chambers, the bill fell short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate to prevent a Republican filibuster.

This time around, the GOP controls the House and has a larger caucus in the Senate. While a few Republicans supported the DREAM Act in 2010, including Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and now retired Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah), most decry the bill as amnesty for immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/11/senate-dems-renew-push-for-dream-act_n_860547.html