Editorial
EDITORIAL: Create a path to citizenship
At a time when comprehensive immigration reform is still an elusive dream, the Senate has a chance this week to enact a small but meaningful piece of that agenda, the DREAM Act. It shouldn't let the chance go by.
The idea has been around for almost a decade: Young immigrants who came here as children, and have gone through our schools, did nothing wrong in arriving here; they just obeyed their parents. But they're still considered illegal. So the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act would give them a path to legal permanent resident status: two years in college or the military. A recent estimate is that about 825,000 people would earn legal status under this bill.
It's narrowly drawn, with tight eligibility requirements. It might even be too narrow, offering only college and the military as paths to legality, and not trades or other avenues. But even that narrow bill has not passed as stand-alone legislation. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants to attach it as an amendment to a defense authorization bill.
Republicans growl: It's not germane. But the Defense Department, sensing access to high-quality recruits, wants it. So it is germane - as is an amendment allowing the overdue repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military.
Both address issues long needing redress. The defense bill, up for debate this week, isn't the perfect vehicle to pass them, but it's the one available. The Senate must get it done. hN
