WASHINGTON — Passing the DREAM Act could be one answer to America’s need to fill high-skill jobs and keep the U.S. military at full strength, Obama administration officials said Tuesday.
The DREAM Act would give children of illegal immigrants a chance at U.S. citizenship if they complete two years of college or military service, clear background checks and meet other requirements.
About 800,000 Americanized immigrants between ages 12 and 35 would be covered by the act, but it has languished in Congress for 10 years. Last year, the House of Representatives passed it, but not the Senate. The bill’s chance of passing either chamber this year appears dim after Republican gains in November’s elections.
Still, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said at a Senate subcommittee hearing Tuesday that the country needs the skills and the tax revenues that this particular group of immigrants would bring.
Duncan said it’s contrary to the national interest to keep these young people in legal limbo, as there are more than 2 million high-skill job openings that must be filled.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated a gain of $1.4 billion in tax revenues from the DREAM Act.
“We need to work to fill those jobs,” Duncan said. “The only way to get there is to have many more people graduating from college. This is a huge number of young people passionately committed to their education.”
In addition, Lt. Col. Margaret Stock told reporters that even with tens of thousands of U.S. troops poised to return from Iraq and Afghanistan, the military expects a recruiting crisis as the economy gets better. The DREAM Act could enlarge the pool of recruits, she said.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, took Democrats to task for playing “political football in a political stunt” instead of fixing a broken immigration system.
Cornyn said the DREAM Act’s requirements aren’t sufficiently rigorous and that a 35-year-old with a GED and multiple misdemeanors would be eligible. He said it could incentivize illegal immigration and encourage fraud.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who introduced the legislation 10 years ago and chaired the hearing, said there’s no avenue for these children of illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship.
About 200 undocumented students crowded the room and told compelling stories. Some are studying to be engineers, lawyers and doctors; one debuted at Carnegie Hall; another, Jose Antonio Vargas, won a Pulitzer Prize. Many came to the U.S. as small children and have never known another country as home.
