Dream Act could save immigrant students from deportation: ...Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) conceived the Dream Act to offer a path to citizenship for thousands of promising young people who came to the country illegally when they were children. Some of these students do not even know they are undocumented until they try to apply for driver's licenses or scholarships. Rather than deporting them to countries many of them barely remember, the Dream Act would help lead to naturalization for youths who came to the United States before age 15, earned GEDs or high school degrees and completed two years in college or in the armed forces. The measure is carefully aimed, targeting only young people with clean records who have resided in the country continuously for at least five years. Such students demonstrate the hope and promise of a better life that America has always held out to those who seek its shores. But without the Dream Act, they remain vulnerable to deportation.
Comprehensive immigration reform is necessary to repair the broken immigration system that strands thousands of deserving would-be immigrants on endless waiting lists. But it may not be achieved before the end of the congressional session. This is no excuse not to pass a sensible, narrowly tailored measure that could have a significant, positive impact.
