“Dream Act” Snopes.Com version

Claim:   Implementation of Dream Act guidelines will grant amnesty to illegal aliens residing in the United States if they agree to enlist in the U.S. military or enter college.

Obama Dictates: AMNESTY NOW!

Origins:   The “DREAM” in the DREAM Act of 2011 stands for “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors.” The proposed bill does not, as implied above, simply and automatically grant amnesty to all illegal aliens “residing in the United States if they agree to enlist in the U.S. military or enter college” — it allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to cancel the deportation of aliens and admit them to the U.S. for permanent residence on a conditional basis provided that they:

• Have been continuously present in the U.S. for five years.

• Were 15 years of age or younger when they initially entered the United States and are currently35 yearsof age or younger.
• Have been persons of good moral character since initially entering the United States.
• Have not ordered, incited, assisted, or otherwise participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
• Have not been convicted of any offense under Federal or State law punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of more than1 year;or 3 or more offenses under Federal or State law, for which the alien was convicted on different dates for each of the3 offensesand imprisoned for an aggregate of90 daysor more.
• Have been admitted to an institution of higher education in the United States or have earned a high school diploma or obtained a general education development certificate in the United States.

The Secretary of Homeland Security may later remove the conditional basis of the permanent residency status so granted to any alien provided that:

• The alien has been a person of good moral character during the entire period of conditional permanent resident status.
• The alien has not abandoned residence in the United States.
• The alien has acquired a degree from an institution of higher education in the United States (or has completed at least2 years,in good standing, in a program for a bachelor’s degree or higher degree in the United States) or has served in the Uniformed Services for at least2 years(and, if discharged, received an honorable discharge).

The DREAM Act also has not, as claimed above, been enacted by the Obama Administration. It was introduced to the Senate by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois in May 2011 and was referred to a judiciary subcommittee on 28 June 2011. A similar bill was introduced to the House by Rep. Howard Berman of California and has likewise been referred to a judiciary subcommittee. Neither bill has
even been voted upon, much less passed and enacted.

Although the DREAM Act has not been passed by Congress, in August 2011 the Obama administration announced it would begin using prosecutorial discretion in deportation cases along guidelines similar to those outlined in that proposed legislation:

Unlike the provisions of the DREAM Act, however, the new policy on prosecutorial discretion does not authorize federal immigration authorities to confer permanent resident or any other positive immigration status on illegal aliens; it merely instructs immigration officers and prosecutors to take human considerations into account in determining whether to pursue a particular immigrant’s removal from the U.S. The new policy does not grant “amnesty” in the sense that it does not change the immigration status of illegal aliens nor authorize them to lawfully work in the United States, obtain government identification, or sponsor relatives to come to the United States.

Arrests of Immigrants With Criminal Records on the Rise

AP – Tuesday, November 03, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Immigration agents assigned to track down people who have ignored deportation orders have increasingly arrested immigrants with criminal records during the past year, new data show.

Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement show a shift from the prior three years, when more than 70 percent of immigrants arrested by fugitive operations teams had no criminal histories.

About 45 percent of the 35,000 immigrants arrested by the teams during the 2009 fiscal year had criminal convictions. The figure is up from 23 percent during the prior year.

ICE has long claimed it focused on arresting immigrants with criminal convictions who ignored orders from immigration judges to leave the country.

But most people arrested had no criminal histories, which prompted outcries from immigrant rights groups.

ICE director John Morton said earlier this year the agency would focus on finding immigrants with criminal records or who have ignored deportation orders. However, he said other illegal immigrants would be arrested if they were present during the operations,

“The goal is to prevent crime rather than simply to respond to it,” ICE spokesman Brandon Alvarez-Montgomery said.

One reason for the change is that agents are working more closely with local law enforcement to develop leads, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

Immigrants rights advocates were skeptical of the numbers and wondered whether the data marked a real change in a program they have long criticized as a source of fear in immigrant neighborhoods.

It’s unclear whether the Obama administration has shifted the program’s focus or whether agents in some regions have just been more successful at finding criminals, said Carl Bergquist, policy advocate for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

“I think the jury is still out,” added Paromita Shah, associate director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

Earlier this year, Morton also announced the fugitive teams had stopped using arrest quotas.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said agents should have discretion about who they arrest, given what he considers the daunting task of finding more than 500,000 immigrants who have evaded deportation orders.

“They’ve got to start somewhere, and they look for people obviously that have national security issues as well as serious criminals,” said Krikorian, whose organization favors stricter limits on immigration.

“As long as they’re not sending the message that other illegal aliens will simply be let go, then I don’t have a problem with it.” he said.