| Siskind's Legislative Update
The content in Legislative Update is crossposted from Siskind Susser’s blogs, and follows the federal and state laws, regulations, and legislative proposals that impact the lives of immigrants. Check out our blog index for listings of the latest blog entries.
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Leaders in Congress today re-introduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, better known as the DREAM Act. The bill would allow immigrant students raised in the US and who are graduates of US high schools to attend college or join the military and embark on a path to citizenship.
The bill's lead sponsors in the Senate are Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN). In the House, the lead sponsors are Howard Berman (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL).
Immigration advocacy organization America's Voice described the importance of the bill:
“The DREAM Act would fix one of the clearest examples of America’s nonsensical immigration laws,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice. “For too long, high school valedictorians and college graduates have been unable to fully live up to their potential. Imagine growing up in the United States nearly your whole life, going to school, making it to college and living in constant fear of being arrested and deported to a country you hardly know.”
An estimated 65,000 undocumented young people who have spent their childhoods in America would be impacted by this important piece of legislation. An effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform would also include the DREAM Act.
“Their stories are heartbreaking but their spirit and resilience is nothing short of amazing,” Sharry continued. “For years, these young people, many working in the ‘United we Dream’ coalition, have courageously stood up and organized to change an unjust law. Now, Senator Durbin, Rep. Berman and the other cosponsors are also showing courage. Today’s introduction of the DREAM Act is a testament to their hard work and should serve as an inspiration to all of us as we work together to fix our broken immigration system.”
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The Hill's take is consistent with what I'm hearing from my own sources at the Capitol.
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Two developments today:
1. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus had a meeting today with President Obama to press on immigration reform. The President indicated he is going to push on a reform bill this year. That we knew. But he also indicated he would hold some kind of "public forum" in about two months.
2. Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, one of the very small group of pro-immigration Republicans, is pressing the White House to get them moving on immigration reform. Martinez is retiring in 2010 and says he wants to focus on getting this accomplished during his final years in Congress.
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Illinois' law barring employers in the state from using E-Verify until DHS could guarantee near complete reliability of the electronic verification system has been struck down by a court in the state on the ground that the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
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A bill that would allow for the suspension of business licenses has been pulled from a committee agenda in the state's senate.
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