Roll Call reports, “Harry Reid to put both DREAM Act and DADT bills on floor.” Needless to say, it’s long past time for action on both of these bills, certainly while Democrats still control both the House and the Senate. We’ve written a lot here at Blue Virginia on the absurdity of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and why that crazy, outdated, counterproductive, discriminatory policy needs to go. As for the DREAM Act, here’s what Colin Powell had to say back in late September on this subject. I couldn’t agree more.
We can’t be anti-immigration…because immigrants are fueling this country. Without immigrants, America would be like Europe or Japan, with an aging population and no young people coming in to take care of it. We have to educate our immigrants. The DREAM Act is one way we can do this…The DREAM Act in a nutshell says if you are a young person and you were brought here by your parents and you’re in illegal status, if you have finished high school, we’ll give you a 6-year temporary residency, and if during those 6 years you finish 2 years of college or you go into the military service for 2 years, then you’re on a path to citizenship. That’s good. America is going to be a minority nation in one more generation. Our minorities are not getting educated well enough now, 50% of our minority kids are not finishing high school. We’ve got to invest in education. We should use the DREAM Act as one way to do it…We’ve got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status…Immigration is what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood moving forward. They enrich our culture with every generation. We have to find a way to protect our borders, but at the same time treat our immigrant population with respect and dignity and give them a path to citizenship.
Contact Jim Webb and Mark Warner, tell them to vote “aye” on the DREAM Act today! Thanks.
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