A few weeks ago, I told everyone that Alex had written a great essay about the DREAM Act concept. It's been graded now. He got and A, and I couldn't be more proud of him. Here is the paper, minus the bibliography.

What if it were you? It could just as easily be you who is fighting for the gift that many Americans are given simply just because they happen to be born here. A gift that most people take for granted. That’s United States citizenship. We already have the freedom of being a citizen so that’s all that matters right? No. We cannot forget about the hardworking young men and women that immigrate, sometimes not by their own choice but that of their parents, to our country in search for a better life. America took a step in the right direction of immigration reform by fighting to help deserving young immigrants. In 2001, the DREAM Act was introduced. The DREAM Act stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. This act allows young immigrants a chance to become a citizen if they pursue higher education or join the military. The DREAM Act was rejected multiple times. 2010 was the height of the DREAM Act, as reinforced by Mariela Olivares, an associate professor of law at Howard University, “The possibility of the DREAM Act becoming law was at an all time high.” The DREAM Act had actually passed in the house of representatives. However, when the bill got to the senate, “legislation failed to garner the necessary sixty votes.” Although many states have developed their own DREAM Acts, America is still fighting to pass this as a federal law to this day. It would be beneficial for all of America to help these young immigrants and make the DREAM Act a federal law.

Many people who do not support the DREAM Act make the argument that it would encourage immigrants to continue to enter illegally, as reinforced by senator John Cornyn of Texas, “This bill, sadly, does nothing to fix our broken immigration system. It may be worse that we’re providing incentive for future illegal immigration.” However this is not true. The DREAM Act is not an “amnesty” program for all immigrants. The white house explains that the DREAM Act is not meant for just anybody, but that “The Dream Act requires responsibility and accountability of young people…” This goes to show that the DREAM Act caters to a certain type of person rather that just immigrants in general. America is making an effort to reward those immigrants who were brought here as young children through no fault of their own. Those who work just as hard, if not harder than other Americans. The Dream Act is meant for the “cream of the crop” of students. The young men and women who would benefit from the DREAM Act would be bettering themselves, becoming working and productive members of society, and show that they are hard-working people and have a great amount of ambition. The DREAM Act is a great way to encourage immigrants to get educated and seek out a better and more productive life.

The DREAM Act could also help break the chain of poverty and lack of education for immigrants. Maryland has their own DREAM Act in place on a state level. The Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research conducted a study covering the costs and benefits of the Maryland DREAM Act. Within their study, the authors T.H. Gindling and Marvin Mandell “Predict that 435 Maryland students will take advantage of the Dream Act to go to college each year.” This is a significant number because there are that many young students that have the opportunity go on to improve their lives, breaking the chains of poverty that are common among immigrants. They can go on to start successful careers and businesses, and when they have their own children, they will not have to face many of the challenges encountered by their parents. The cycle can be changed from generation after generation of being poor, to centuries of changed lives, just by giving these immigrants the opportunity that they deserve. If 435 immigrants can benefit from the DREAM Act in just one medium sized state, just think about how many could benefit in the United States as a whole. Many of these immigrants have the hard-working mentality that it takes to be successful but lack the resources they need to fulfill their dreams of a better life. The DREAM Act can give them the boost that they need. One of our Senators, Richard Durbin, supports the idea that if we enact the DREAM Act, these immigrants can “contribute more fully to our society…” rather than tying them down and ultimately “relegate them to a future in the shadows…” It just takes one opportunity for one generation to change many lives after that.

The DREAM Act would actually benefit the economy. If these people can become educated and start a career earning a higher wage, they would have more to contribute to the nation’s economy, as they “would be eligible for some refundable tax credits, Social Security, and Medicare benefits…” Once these immigrants are given this opportunity to start a better life, they earn legal U.S. citizenship and therefore are given both the freedoms and responsibilities that other Americans take for granted. One of those is paying taxes. That could lead to substantial amount of taxpayer dollars that will be pumped into the betterment of our nation. The Congressional Budget office reveals that DREAM Act legislation would increase the amount of qualified workers would result in higher corporate and social insurance taxes, which ultimately “would increase revenues by $2.3 billion over 10 years,” and even “would increase net direct spending by $912 million.” (Congressional Budget Office, pg. 1). The hard working students that can be assisted by the DREAM Act could help contribute to making our nation stronger by increasing the number of college graduates our country has and hopefully putting America back in that number one spot in the world, which is “something vital for America to remain competitive in today’s global economy.” It is also possible that these students can go on in life to do special things. This will just increase our chances of creating the next big invention or discovering a new medicine that will ultimately make our country stronger. It can’t be a bad thing for there to be a higher number of educated people in our country. Another point that many do not think about is that if America deported many of these undocumented immigrants, it would create large expenses. How would those expenses get paid? Taxpayer dollars coming out of your pocket. Economically, it seems that the DREAM Act could be a win win for everybody.

The DREAM Act could enhance our national security. Their are some immigrants who come into our country who are bad people. However, the DREAM Act is not meant for those people. This act will be put in place solely for the benefit of those who have good morals and character. The DREAM Act could allow immigration enforcement to “focus on those who pose a serious threat to our nation’s security.” Otherwise law-abiding immigrant students are not the immigrants that America should be worried about. For the most part, these people are just like Americans. Most have grown up here and “are fiercely patriotic." So it would make sense if we could document these immigrants so we have a better idea of who is actually dangerous and who is not. This would enable us to be more aware of who is in our country. In order for these immigrants to qualify and benefit from the DREAM Act, they “would be subject to rigorous criminal background checks and reviews.” This would eliminate the possibility of bad people benefiting from this act and would ensure that anyone who is granted citizenship from the DREAM Act would be well deserving and we would know exactly who they are. The more insight and knowledge that the government has about the people in our country, the more safe and better off we will be. However if the government were to continue to consider these immigrants illegal, these people will stay in the shadows in fear that they could be deported. One of the other paths that these immigrants have to gain citizenship is to join the military. These men and women could have a lot to offer to the military as they bring diversity “linguistically and culturally,” which is something that could be very valuable and important to America’s fight against global war on terrorism. A study was conducted by the Center for Naval Analyses, regarding non-citizens in today’s military, and their final report concluded that immigrants do “extremely well in the military,” and that “noncitizens have 36-month attrition rates that are 9 to 20 percentage points lower than the attrition rates of white citizens." Furthermore, this shows that if America helps out these young immigrants hoping to attain U.S. citizenship, they can give back to our country and even help us out contributing to the strength and security of our country.

America can gain a plethora of benefits by enacting of the DREAM Act. This could be a significant step in the right direction for reform on immigration, and could even turn around many people’s lives, sending whole families in the right direction. Citizenship would be something that these immigrants work very hard for and it is something that they can show that they deserve. The DREAM Act would be positive for the country as a whole as these young men and women have a lot to offer and are willing to take action and responsibility in order to support and help this country to which they are so thankful.