Contest over the DREAM Act for immigration intensifies at a Brooklyn rally

Source: Examiner

Both sides of the immigration debate are mobilizing in response to the upcoming congressional vote on the DREAM Act, which would open up a track to US citizenship for immigrant youths.

...The Act has been continuously opposed by Republicans and moderate Democrats who fear it will encourage an increase in illegal immigration. Preempting the loss of legislative control to Republican next year, House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would bring the DREAM Act to a vote on November 29th.

A rally in Brooklyn on November 21st featured several politicians in support of the Dream Act, pontificating their stances and energizing their supporters for further action over the coming weeks. Nydia Velasquez, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, urged the audience to call their representatives. This rhetoric is problematic in that Velasquez has not yet co-sponsored the Act herself. llinois Representative Luis Gutiérrez also spoke at the rally, lauding the grassroots and bureaucratic work behind the Act but often focusing on other measures and the immigration struggle in general. While the politicians presented themselves as optimistic, it seems they do not anticipate success.

Opposition to the DREAM Act is also mobilizing. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama has criticized the Act for allowing aliens who benefit to sponsor their parents and extended families, effectively opening an already saturated labor market to new workers. "I don't think in this economy that this is a very happy time to be doing that," he said. The group Americans for Legal Immigration is inflating fear and pushing for a calling campaign to defeat the Act while the NYIC is organizing a calling campaign to support the Act. Representatives will be hearing a lot from both these groups on Monday when the Act goes before Congress. On the same day the NYSYLC will be holding a rally at 47th St and Broadway, galvanizing their supporters and criticizing the bureaucratic maneuvers.

Read more: http://www.examiner.com/progressive-in-new-york/contest-over-the-dream-act-for-immigration-intensifies-at-a-brooklyn-rally

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Velasquez and Gutiérrez are both members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

And we all should be making calls to our Congressmen to ask for its passage. It is absurd that we keep demonizing other people. Ignoring the issue is not going to make the problem go away.