OK so we now have another chance at getting this Act passed. DREAM is back on the agenda in the lame duck session. While Comprehensive Immigration Reform remains the long-term goal of the Democratic leadership, their current goal is enacting the DREAM Act before the 111th Congress adjourns for the last time.
The North American Integration and Development Center at UCLA has released a new report highlighting the economic benefits of enacting the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act.
More specifically, the report concludes, “In the No DREAMers Left Behind scenario, 2.1 million undocumented immigrants would become legalized and generate approximately $3.6 trillion” over a 40-year period. Another positive effect of the DREAM Act would be that “[a] higher supply of skilled students would also advance the U.S. global competitive position in science, technology, medicine, education and many other endeavors.”
These findings are especially significant given the nation’s falling level of educational attainment. As Wonk Room economics blogger Pat Garofalo notes, “By 2025, according to estimates by the Lumina Foundation, our nation will be short 16 million college-educated workers. This will have real consequences for both the economy as a whole and for individual workers.”
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What can you do to help?
Let us know if you are a DREAM Act beneficiary, read more here. Write, call and email your representatives.
When you do, tell them that you, respectfully urge them to pass S.729, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2009 (“DREAM Act”) and S.1038, Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2009 (“AgJOBS”). Whether as stand-alone measures or amendments to another bill, passage of the DREAM Act and AgJOBS during the lame duck session is vital and we ask you to make it a top priority.