Thursday, September 23, 2010

DREAMs put on hold for half a million California immigrants | California Watch

DREAMs put on hold for half a million California immigrants | California Watch

DREAMs put on hold for half a million California immigrants

jisc_infonet/Flickr

If the Senate had approved the defense authorization bill this week which included the long-debated DREAM Act, more than 500,000 young immigrants who are in California without legal authorization would have been eligible to apply for legal status, at least on a "conditional" basis.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act provides a path to legalization for eligible high school students and adults who came to the United States before the age of 16 – and then at a minimum completed two years of higher education.

But supporters, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., vowed to bring the issue up again for a