Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the urgent immigration crisis facing our nation and to ask my colleagues to join me in support of H.R. 5281, the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors Act.

We have all heard the numbers: an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants forced to live under a broken U.S. immigration system; more than 400,000 people each year entering this country illegally, side stepping those who follow the rules and try to come here the right way.

But these numbers do not fully reflect the human suffering, economic disadvantage or threat to our national security that this failed system has created.

Immigrants coming to this country illegally often face a terrible choice: endure crippling poverty and danger to themselves and their families in their home country, or abandon their homes to try and find work and build a new life here. For most Americans, their parents, grandparents, or ancestors brought their families to the U.S. in search of a better life. Those who bring their young children here today put themselves and their families at risk for the same reasons that immigrants did so generations ago. Children who are brought here illegally now are often forced into a life in the shadows of a country they will most likely know as their only home.

The DREAM Act establishes a rigorous, decade-long process that would create a path to citizenship for those children by serving in the Armed Forces or pursuing a college education. DREAM Act participants would not be eligible for federal programs, such as Medicaid or Pell Grants, while they are in conditional status. Additionally, this bill will not encourage continued illegal immigration because it does not apply to children brought here illegally in the future--only those who have lived here for at least five years. It is a bipartisan, common-sense solution that would give children who were raised here an opportunity to contribute to our nation.

While the policy arguments for this bill are strong, I want to share part of a letter I received from a 17 year-old constituent who described the personal toll of living in the shadows and what passage of the DREAM Act would mean to him. He was brought to this country illegally from Guatemala when he was 7 years old by parents who were seeking a better life for his disabled brother. He wrote, ``I don't blame my mother or father for bringing me here. I completely understand why they did it ..... I have always had to understand so many things at just a young age that I feel older than I am. What I was not capable of understanding was how hard it would be not having legal status in this country. Now I am seeing how hard it is not being able to get a job so that I can help my mom ..... or apply to a college. In a way it makes me feel so much less of a person compared to my classmates. I still can't see what makes my friends be able to have a job or take driver's ed just because they have a social security number and not me. In my eyes we're the same. I have the same potential that they have, but yet I have to stay in this shell and not be able to reach the goals that I have set for myself.''

This young person has illustrated better than I ever could how critical an issue this is for our country. Our proud immigrant communities in Rhode Island have shown the great benefit they bring to our economy and heritage, both in the past and present. If there is one thing we can all support, it should be a national policy that continues to attract the best and the brightest who want to contribute to this country and our ideals. Unfortunately, the reality is that our system today forces a large section of our immigrant population into the shadows where they are trapped in a life of illegitimacy and America does not fully see the benefits of their talents.

It is for all these reasons that I have long supported the DREAM Act. This Act is targeted at the most highly motivated young individuals, with no criminal background, who were brought to this country and raised here under no fault of their own. These children have worked hard in school, and they are eager to contribute more by pursuing higher education or military service, and this bill will help them achieve their dreams, while strengthening our society, our economy and our security. These young people deserve the opportunity to resolve their immigration status and we as a nation need their contribution to our country. I want to thank Chairman BERMAN for his tremendous leadership on this issue and urge my colleagues to pass this bill.

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