Barack Obama’s presidential victory is fueling widespread optimism among student groups that Congress and the next White House will endorse long-debated legislation to help some undocumented students gain legal status.
These organizations see an opportunity to pass the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, through which undocumented students who complete high school and two years of college could gain conditional legal status and eventual citizenship.
“Our strategy is to get it done in the first 100 days [of the new administration],” says Shanta Driver, spokeswoman for BAMNCoalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary.
Groups such as the United States Student Association, based in Washington, D.C., also share that view. “The DREAM Act is one of our top priorities for the first 100 days,” says Angela Peoples, USSA legislative director. Students would qualify for legal status under the DREAM Act if they came to the United States before age 16; have lived in the United States for five years; graduated from a U.S. high school or passed a high school equivalency test; have good moral character with no criminal record; and attended college or enlisted in the military for two years. Student and civil rights groups have several reasons for their optimism:
• As a U.S. senator, Obama voted for the DREAM Act the last time it came before the Senate in October 2007. In a statement earlier this year, he also cited his support for a similar Illinois initiative when he was a state senator. “I believe that all students, regardless of national origin, deserve an equal opportunity to a high quality public education,” he said.
• Several senators who were against the measure in October 2007 lost their re-election bids: Sens. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., Gordon Smith, R-Ore., John Sununu, R-N.H., and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Another opponent, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is retiring. All will be replaced by Democrats.
