A few interesting events occurred last week in the immigration legislation world.  First, the Arizona legislature enacted and its governor signed the most draconian anti-immigrant law in the 50 states.  This story has been well covered in many other forums, blogs, and media sources, so I won’t be discussing it much here.  My emphasis is more directed at national immigration issues rather than local ones.  Along that line, the more interesting story to me is that two senators, Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, asking her to stop deportation actions against immigrant students who could qualify for legal status under the DREAM Act.

The DREAM Act failed to be passed in 2007.  It was again introduced in 2009, but has yet to receive a vote.  If passed, it would create a path to legal status for students who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 15, have lived here for at least five years, and are pursuing their education or serving in the military.  They also have to establish good moral character.

What is interesting about the letter is the timing of it, as well as its bipartisan nature.  This is the first instance senators from both political parties are making the unusual, but not unprecedented, request for deferred action.  Does this mean Congress is getting closer to enacting the DREAM Act?  I don’t know, but why else would they send the letter?  If this is the case, my bet is that it will be bill separate from the comprehensive immigration reform legislation that is now being contemplated.  The DREAM Act enjoys a much wider base of support than CIR.   There’s a lot of good policy reasons, not just moral arguments, for allowing children of undocumented aliens to stay in the U.S.  They are truly victims of their circumstances.  I personally know quite a few college students who would benefit from the DREAM Act.   These kids are doing quite well in their studies, yet have no real prospect of putting to use their education and training because they are unable to show employment eligibility due to their undocumented status.  It makes no sense to kick out young, productive, and dynamic members of society who are by all intents and purposes, Americans (except for their lack of status).  I’ll update this post if my hunch turns out to be right.