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final draft

Samantha Iellimo

Research in the Disciplines- College

December 13, 2013

Professor Goeller

The Economic Benefits of the DREAM Act

Abstract

                            This analytical research paper explores the controversial political topic of immigration reform and it’s relation to higher education.  It discusses the DREAM Act, which is a piece of Federal legislature that aims to make higher education more accessible for America’s illegal youth and develops a path for those youth to obtain legal citizenship. This piece focuses in on the economic benefits of the DREAM Act and how enabling America’s alien minors to attend college will create jobs while driving up wages, bring in federal tax revenue and be a catalyst for more economic growth in the long term. Ultimately, the DREAM Act is a law that supports the belief in higher education for a greater good, rather than for individual benefit, challenging the principles of privatization.

                            Imagine you are sitting at your high school graduation all over again. You look around and observe your classmates, some of which you have attended school with since kindergarten. When you reach for your diploma, a result of thirteen years of hard work, what do you feel? Pride, happiness, and excitement for your future are emotions that probably come to mind. Now imagine that after all of your hard work and dedication, high school would be the end of the scholastic road for you. By not possessing a nine-digit number, you lack the key to unlock a future worth of ambitions. Although you have completed and excelled in the same education system as your peers, you will be unable to pursue a higher degree and improve your economic standing due to a choice made by your parents when you were too young to control your own life. This is exactly what the 2.1 million undocumented immigrant youth residing in America will experience because they are unable to neither afford a college education nor legally obtain a job without a social security number.  

                            To solve this problem, Congress has presented the Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors Act, known as the  “DREAM” Act, which aims to provide a path to legal citizenship for illegal immigrants through higher education. The DREAM Act allows those that have entered this country prior to the age of fifteen, to apply for American Citizenship after completing two years of college level education or two years of military service. The DREAM Act would also allow illegal youth to be eligible for Federal and State financial aid and in-state tuition in the states they reside in, thereby increasing financial ability to attend college. Though the DREAM Act was introduced in 2001, it still has not been instated twelve years later due to its many opponents who cite reasons for its dismissal. Opponents believe that it rewards those who have entered the United States illegally and encourages future illegal immigration, is a huge cost burden to taxpayers, and will result in a decrease in job availability to American college graduates.  However, the truth could not be further from this. The DREAM Act is in fact a piece of legislation that will ultimately be an economic benefit to the United States by providing increased revenue to the Federal government, increasing job demand, and driving up wages for all Americans.

            According to American Progress, “For the nation as a whole, passage of the DREAM Act would add a total of $329 billion to the economy by 2030, support the creation of 1.4 million new jobs, and generate at least $10.2 billion in revenue for the federal government” (Garcia 1).  This long-term benefit will be achieved by granting undocumented students the ability to complete a higher education degree at America’s universities. By offering undocumented students an opportunity to receive financial aid through grants or loans, or a tuition reduction through allowing in-state tuition, it will be an incentive for more illegal high school graduates to attend college. Then, according to Hiroshi Motomura, “A noncitizen meeting these requirements would be eligible to be a conditional permanent resident. If she is under thirty-five at the time the act passed, and attends college or serves in the U.S. military for two years, she would become a lawful permanent resident" (1130). Becoming a lawful permanent resident will result in the immigrant obtaining a social security number, which means that he or she will be able to legally obtain work in the United States. By legitimately obtaining a job, it enables the immigrant to be protected under employment laws and requires employers to administer a fair wage. When a worker is not protected under employment laws, wages for all Americans are actually driven down as illegal immigrants are forced to take jobs that receive exceptionally below average pay. Employers will then choose to employ illegal immigrants over legal residents because it will cost their company less money out of their revenue for entry-level position wages. This consequently drives down the wages of more qualified workers in higher up positions in the company. By encouraging more illegal immigrants to take the route of higher education and citizenship, the United States Department of Labor can ensure that immigrants’ employers are giving them a fair hourly wage or salary. Essentially, increasing the wages of illegal immigrants can be completed by granting them legal citizenship and will have upward rising effect on all workers’ wages.

            Furthermore, this overall increase in wages trickles into other economic aspects, such as spending and ultimately job growth. As Marshall Fitz of the New York Times reports, “this boost in wages translates into big returns. Those workers invest that earnings surplus back into the economy by purchasing things like homes, cars and computers, and pay a significant amount in new tax revenue. That consumption creates more demand for goods and services, which leads to economic growth and job creation” (Fitz 1). Since these undocumented immigrants are now documented and able to earn more in wages, they will be able to spend more of that money in the United States economy through the purchasing of goods and services. When more goods and services are being purchased, it also results in more goods and services being needed. This is a simple concept of supply and demand, and Fitz notes, “a recent study by my colleagues found that legalization would increase the earnings of all Americans by $470 billion and generate on average 121,000 jobs annually, over 10 years. On top of those benefits and the additional $832 billion in cumulative gross domestic product, legalization would generate $109 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues” (1).  The positive increase in immigrants’ personal incomes will overall have a positive increase in the incomes of all Americans because they will have more money to spend in the economy.

Furthermore, providing undocumented students more accessibility to a college education also means that when they graduate with a higher degree they will be eligible for jobs that require more qualifications.  Jobs that require more qualifications and a higher degree will yield a higher salary, and therefore also result in increased spending ability in our economy. In his article, “Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to the United States”, Ramanujan presents that, “90 per cent of the wages that the undocumented population earns are currently spent inside the US. As a result, he told that the total consumptive capacity of illegal immigrants remaining in the US is around $450 billion (Cater et al. 2005)” (1046). If ninety percent of their wages are spent inside of the United States, this further supports that if more money is earned then a greater amount of money is spent, thereby positively boosting the United States economy.  Opponents of the DREAM Act believe that if more illegal immigrants become educated in college, then Americans will experience more job competitiveness and will increase the American unemployment rate. On the contrary, if more educated workers are available for work, then more efficient work will be completed, thereby producing more revenue for companies, which will trickle down. Additionally, in her 2006 analysis, “The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens” Susan Ladika asserts a noteworthy point. She writes, “America’s population is becoming better educated, so many turn their backs on low paid, low skilled jobs. Illegal Immigrants typically compete for jobs against Americans who lack a high school diploma. Griswold says half of US workers in the 1960s had no diploma, while today it’s at 10 percent” (58). Ladika’s research supports the mission of the DREAM Act by confirming that providing undocumented students a path to qualify for higher skilled jobs will increase job opportunity for lower educated and skilled Americans. If more academically qualified, now legal, immigrants are able to pursue a college degree and accept lawful job offers, then Americans without those scholastic credentials will be able to fill the lower skilled jobs that do not require degrees. As a result, America’s unemployment rate will decrease as those jobs become filled, proving yet another benefit to our economy.

The final route that the DREAM Act will take to benefit our economy is the one through the Federal government’s revenue.  According to Susan Ladika,  “Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group in Washington, DC, says illegal immigrants also pay sales taxes and possibly property taxes. And she predicts that legalizing their status would have a huge impact on the economy. Once people are able to come out from ‘the shadows,’ she says, they could spend more money on houses, cars, and education” (58). When income is higher and more money is spent on taxed goods, then the federal government ultimately collects more money from those taxes. Currently, illegal immigrants without a social security number must perform jobs that pay “under the table”, which goes unreported to the government. Therefore, the worker does not pay income taxes to the government, creating a strain on American taxpayers. By enabling illegal immigrants to emerge from the “shadows”, they will have to contribute toward both federal and state income taxes automatically when a paycheck is received. This tax revenue is utilized to fund a plethora of government programs, including the higher education system. Opponents of the DREAM Act have stated that by allowing undocumented students into our colleges it will be a burden on American taxpayers’ contributions toward state universities. However, by giving illegal immigrants the opportunity to pay taxes means that they will be able to contribute their share toward the education system they are using. Fundamentally, the DREAM Act will financially balance itself by simultaneous increasing college attendance and tax revenue.

            Finally, the government program illegal immigrants most impact is the Federal Social Security Administration, which according to Susan Ladika, “. . . illegal workers pay between 7 billion and 10 billion annually into social security—money they never collect” (58). Often, illegal immigrants are able to obtain fake social security numbers that they present to their employers prior to employment. These employers then distribute the undocumented worker’s paycheck with social security portion withheld and paid toward the government.  In Eduardo Porter’s New York Times article, entitled “Illegal Immigrants are Bolstering Social Security with Billions” he follows the experience of illegal resident Angel Martinez.  Porter reports, “Last year, Mr. Martinez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martinez is not entitled to benefits” (Porter 1). This creates an imbalance in our Social Security system because illegal immigrants are never able to collect their retirement benefits that they are paying into, which means that money is never put back into the economy when it is received.  It is kept within the federal government and is unable to be a catalyst for more economic growth. This is a large sum of money that is essentially stuck, as it is “estimated that 3.8 million households headed by illegal immigrants generated $6.4 billion in Social Security taxes is 2002” (1), and this reported number fails to account for inflation that has occurred in the past decade. The DREAM Act therefore solves this with its path to citizenship for illegal residents, giving them the retirement benefits of American citizens.

            The DREAM Act is clearly a piece of legislation with a multitude of outlets for economic stimulation, proving its existence and eventual instatement as a true benefit to our nation. The ideals of the DREAM Act are ones of overall advantage to all Americans, especially those who are native born. However, in order to truly visualize its’ benefit in more than a tangible numeric value, opponents must move beyond the principles of higher education privatization. Privatization asserts that a college education is generally a personal benefit, rewarding individuals for achieving a degree in a competitive scholastic environment and therefore improving one’s economic standing. The DREAM Act contrarily asserts that by encouraging higher education for the “DREAMers,” a population that would otherwise be unable to improve its economic stature, overall economic improvement can be achieved for our entire nation. By viewing education as a catalyst that allows everyone to rise to the top, the DREAM Act challenges privatization and broadly impacts our society’s forward movement. Motomura asserts, “ This broadening is part of the integration of immigrants into American society. Children in immigrant families are typically much more likely than their parents to become integrated linguistically, socially, and in other dimensions. This is true regardless of a child’s legal status, but is even more true for children who have lawful immigration status or citizenship, which allows them to serve more effectively as cultural brokers between their parents and mainstream society outside immigrant enclaves" (Motomura 1136).  America’s undocumented youth have the power and drive to make a dramatic impact on America. The DREAM Act, through education, gives those who were unable to control their own fate as children the nine-digit code to drive our economy and society into the future. Many of these youth have known no other country, language or culture other than America and deserve the same opportunity and hope for their futures given to American youth.

            With the induction of the DREAM Act, as America’s DREAMer’s reach for their high school diplomas, they too will have the same excitement and zest for their futures as you did. With the potential economic benefits through job and wage growth and tax revenue, the DREAM Act proves higher education yields more than just a degree for one.

Works Cited

Conlan, Mark Gabrish. "The Effects of Illegal Immigration: An Overview." Print. Rpt. In

            Illegal Immigration. Ed. William Barbour. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1994. 67-71. Print.

Fitz, Marshall. "Legalized Workers Earn More and Spend More." The New York Times

                            . N.p., 13 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

Garcia, Ann. "Passing the DREAM Act for Our Economy." Name. N.p., 01 Oct. 2012.

                            Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

Ladika, Susan. 2006. "The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens." HR Magazine 51, no. 10:

 58-59. Business Abstracts with Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed     October 29, 2013).

Levine, Linda. "Immigration: The Effects on Native-Born Workers." Print. Rpt. In

            Politics of Immigration. Ed. A.M.      Babkina. New York: Nova Science. Print.

Motomura, Hiroshi, Making Legal: The Dream Act, Birthright Citizenship, and Broad-

Scale Legalization (January 15, 2013). 16 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1127-48 (2012); UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 13-01.

Porter, Eduardo. "Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billion." New

            York Times. N.p., 5 Apr. 2005. Web. 12 Dec. 2013

Ramanujan, Nadadur (2009): Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to

            the United States, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35:6, 1037-1052

.

Lit Review

Title: The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens

Author: Susan Ladika

According to her  personal website, Susan Ladika says, "I've been a writer and editor for 25 years, getting my grounding at newspapers and a wire service, both in the United States and Europe. My freelance work has covered everything from business to travel to science to international issues, and just about anything in between. My articles have appeared in such publications as Science, Town & Country, HR Magazine, Developer, The Wall Street Journal-Europe, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many others. I've also done extensive editing as a newspaper and wire service editor, as well as for international institutions, and have a particular knack for editing text written by non-native English speakers." (susanladika.com)

Citation:

Ladika, Susan. 2006. "The Economic Impact of Illegal Aliens." HR Magazine 51, no. 10: 58-59. Business Abstracts with Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 29, 2013).

Summary:

Susan Ladika relates illegal immigration to the American workforce and states facts on how working illegals benefit our economy. She takes the stance that the jobs that illegal immigrants take are not jobs that educated Americans strive to obtain, especially in current times compared to the past. She also asserts that illegals pay taxes and pay into social security which they cannot collect, so ultimately they are helping American tax payers who will collect on the social security eventually. Ladika's main assertion is that if illegals were legalized (which is what the DREAM Act aims to ultimately achieve) they could spend more money into the economy on items that only Americans can substantially contribute to. 

Quotes:

“America’s population is becoming better educated, so many turn their backs on low paid, low skilled jobs. Illegal Immigrants typically compete for jobs against Americans who lack a high school diploma. Griswold says half of US workers in the 1960s had no diploma, while today it’s at 10 percent” (58)

“. . . illegal workers pay between 7 billion and 10 billion annually into social security—money they never collect” (58)

“Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research at the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group in Washington, DC, says illegal immigrants also pay sales taxes and possibly property taxes. And she predicts that legalizing their status would have a huge impact on the economy. Once people are able to come out from ‘the shadows,’ she says, they could spend more money on houses, cars, and education.”

Key Terms:

social security- illegals cannot collect on social security because they are not citizens, but they can still contribute to it.

low skilled jobs- jobs that illegal immigrants can take because they lack education requirements

Literature #2

Ramanujan Nadadur (2009): Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to

 the United States, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35:6, 1037-1052

Summary

Nadadur acknowledges the financial burden that illegal immigrants place on the US economy, but ultimately he asserts that illegal immigration aids the US economy overall. Nadadur dives deep into the effect that illegal immigration has on wages, jobs and the labor market. Nadadur primarily explores how the job market can be divided into primary and secondary labor markets. The secondary sector consists of low-skill, short term service jobs with lower wages and the primary sector consists of skilled jobs with employment stability. Nadadur asserts that illegal immigrants only have an effect on the secondary market.

Author

No internet information could be found on the author.

Quotes

 “90 percent of the wages that the undocumented population earns are currently spent inside the US. As a result, “The total consumptive capacity of illegal immigrants remaining in the US is around $450 billion.” (1044)

"immigrants also positively benefit the economy by increasing demand, spurring investment, and keeping receiving-country industries competitive through enhancing capital productivity" (1040).

"illegal immigrants are more temporary than legal immigrants and fit the profile of labor needed by secondary sector jobs" (1042)

key terms

Primary sector-skilled, permanent, service jobs (blue collar)

secondary sector-unskilled, low wage, temporary jobs (white collar)

Value
This article is a huge assert to my piece, it is my argument to show that illegal immigration is a positive benefit to our economy and students are not overall threatened in the job market by illegal immigration. Furthermore, I can also use it to present the counter argument that illegal immigration does create cost for tax payers, which is furthered by the DREAM Act, since the host country is now assuming more cost for educating these non-citizens.

Research Proposal +Bibliography

Samantha Iellimo

201- College

Professor Goeller

October 15, 2013

Working Title: The DREAM Act and American College Students

Topic

The DREAM Act is a piece of immigration reform legislation first introduced in 2001 that aims to aid illegal minors in achieving legal status through higher education. The DREAM Act, which stands for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors offers a path to American citizenship for students who were most likely brought to the United States as children and have known no other home. The United States is the only country they have ever known, and sometimes they are unaware of their illegal status until they attempt to apply for a college education. The DREAM Act allows these minors to be eligible for federal and state financial aid, and if two years of higher education or military service is completed, they are eligible for American citizenship.  This piece of legislation has been talked about for many years in the political arena, but it has not been passed yet because of the many who oppose it based on its’ unfairness to American college students. The goal of my research paper is to prove how the DREAM Act will not negatively impact American college students economically and will even offer positive consequences.  I will offer counter-arguments that include the use of privatization facts for the possible negative impacts of the Act, as well as positive impacts that will result from alien minors receiving higher education.

Research Question

How will the DREAM Act negatively and positively impact American college students’ economic futures?

The Opposition

When Alabama’s unemployment rate soared above the National Average to ten percent, Republican Governor Robert Bentley signed a law that would attack this problem and essentially aim to create more jobs for legal Alabama residents. According to Amanda Beadle at ThinkProgress.org, the law, passed in June of 2011 and deemed “the nation’s harshest immigration law” makes it  “illegal to even live as an undocumented immigrant in Alabama” by announcing it unlawful for illegal immigrants to participate in a business transaction with the state (Beadle 2).For those like Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, whose law “has become a point of pride of some Alabama Republicans” (Beadle 1), it seems that the general opinion of his supporters is that illegal immigration has a negative impact on the United States’ job market and ultimately harms citizen workers. According to Jennifer D. Williams, “U.S. jobs continue to be viewed as the chief attraction for illegal aliens” (Williams 29). In her 1990 article, “Illegal Immigration: the Effects on Native Born Workers”, Linda Levine introduces the “displacement effect”, which is used to describe a negative consequence of illegal immigration on American, or “native” workers. The “displacement effect” illustrates that because illegals accept less money for lower skilled jobs, workers wages become lower, and therefore “native-born workers will find other activities to be more attractive”. Levine explains that as a result, “they leave the labor force and employment among the native-born population, as noted above, declines”.  As American workers leave and lose their jobs to workers that accept lower pay and therefore cost the employer less money, “the initial employment of foreign-born workers expands as they assume a portion of the jobs formerly held by native-born workers” (Levine 51). The theory affirms that American workers are therefore “displaced” and thereby explains why Republicans believe that illegal aliens in our job market are a negative influence.

In Support of the DREAM Act

In her article, Linda Levine plainly states that, “immigrants affect the private economy in their role as workers” (Levine 50), and as I uncovered more information it became clear that illegals actually do have a positive effect on the job market by causing job growth, which will actually aid American college students. To explain this belief, Ramanujan Nadadur utilizes his 2009 article titled, “Illegal Immigration: A positive Economic Contribution to the United States”, to assert the idea that “illegal immigrants perform jobs that no US worker will fill” and he expands on this notion by introducing the “dual labor market theory” (Nadadur 1041-1042). According to Nadadur, the theory suggests that the United States labor market consists of two parts: the skilled primary sector and the unskilled secondary sector. The former is characterized by “skilled work, employment stability, the presence of job ladders, effective trade unions and efficient management”. As for the second sector, it contrarily consists of  “low or unskilled work or service jobs, linked by the fact that they are characterized by low earnings, job impermanence and low returns on education” (Nadadur 1041).  Since most Native American workers seek jobs in the first sector where the conditions are more favorable, it seems obvious that a shortage is created in the secondary sector. Illegal immigrants, who employers are forced to turn to, then fill this shortage of lower waged manual jobs. Nadadur summarizes that “in short, there are more jobs in the secondary sector than there are native workers to fill those jobs”, and therefore by taking them, illegal immigrants benefit the job market.

Conclusion

In my research paper, I will explore these topics further and provide further arguments to support the passing of the DREAM Act. I believe that the law will actually benefit college students in the long run and is not an unfair law. I believe that any arguments against the DREAM Act, stating negative impact, can be disputed. Though there is the argument that it could cause an increase in costs for American students, privatization is creating more of a negative impact on the wallets of students. The DREAM Act is a piece of legislation that will keep us moving forward.

Bibliography

Conlan, Mark Gabrish. "The Effects of Illegal Immigration: An Overview." Print. Rpt. in

            Illegal Immigration. Ed. William Barbour. San Diego: Greenhaven, 1994. 67-71.

            Print.

 "Governor Brown Signs Second Half Of California Dream Act.” Fox News – Breaking

 News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. 08 Oct. 2011.

Web. 21 Oct. 2011

Horwedel, Dina M. "For Illegal Students, an Uncertain Future." Diverse: Issues in Higher

            Education 23.6 (2006): 22-26. Academic OneFile. Web. 05 Nov. 2011.

Levine, Linda. "Immigration: The Effects on Native-Born Workers." Print. Rpt. in

            Politics of Immigration. Ed. A.M.      Babkina. New York: Nova Science. Print.
Motomura, Hiroshi, Making Legal: The Dream Act, Birthright Citizenship, and Broad-Scale
            Legalization (January 15, 2013). 16 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1127-48 (2012); UCLA
            School of Law Research Paper No. 13-01.

Ramanujan Nadadur (2009): Illegal Immigration: A Positive Economic Contribution to

 the United States, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 35:6, 1037-1052

Williams, Jennifer D. "Immigration: Recent Estimates of the U.S. Illegal Alien

            Population." Print. Rpt. in Politics of Immigration. Ed. A.M. Babkina. New York:

            Nova Science. 

Literature Review Blog#1

Source Citation:

Motomura, Hiroshi, Making Legal: The Dream Act, Birthright Citizenship, and Broad-Scale Legalization (January 15, 2013). 16 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1127-48 (2012); UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 13-01. 

Summary:

In his article "Making Legal: The DREAM Act, Birthright Citizenship and Broad-Scale Legalization", Hiroshi Motomura explores both arguments, for and against the DREAM Act. He uncovers the morality and fairness behind the law's supporters and those who feel strongly against it. He also uncovers supreme court cases that directly influence the application of the DREAM Act. This article leans toward supporting the DREAM Act and gives counter-arguments for the opponents of the law. 

Author Information:

http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/all-faculty-profiles/professors/Pages/hiroshi-motomura.aspx

According to UCLA, where he has been a professor since 2007, "Hiroshi Motomura is an influential scholar and teacher of immigration and citizenship law. He is a co-author of two immigration-related casebooks: Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy (7th ed. West, 2012), and Forced Migration: Law and Policy (2d ed. West, 2013).  His book, Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States (Oxford, 2006) won the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award from the Association of American Publishers as the year’s best book in Law and Legal Studies, and was chosen by the U.S. Department of State for its Suggested Reading List for Foreign Service Officers.  A companion volume, Immigration Outside the Law, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2014. In addition, he has published many significant articles and essays on immigration and citizenship." 

Key Terms:

DREAM Act- Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, which gives legal status to alien minors who came to the US as children, only if they attend college or serve in the military. (1128)

Plyler vs. Doe- (1128)- Supreme court decision of 1982 that decided that a state cannot limit a child's access to public elementary and second education based on his/her immigration status. It also emphasized that education prevents alien children from being disadvantaged permanently as they grew older and their education must be supported in our equality-centered culture.

Quotes:

1."The pragmatic objections to the DREAM Act draw on the same two Plyler themes. Focusing on unlawful presence, individuals who are illegally in the United States pose a straightforward problem that the government can solve by apprehending and deporting them, or by making life for them hard enough that they will leave. Such enforcement policies in the United States are needed, this argument continues, to support border enforcement and the system for lawful admission to the United States" (1133). 

 2. "This broadening is part of the integration of immigrants into American society. Children in immigrant families are typically much more likely than their parents to become integrated linguistically, socially, and in other dimensions. This is true regardless of a child’s legal status, but is even more true for children who have lawful immigration status or citizenship, which allows them to serve more effectively as cultural brokers between their parents and mainstream society outside immigrant enclaves" (1136).

 3. "To focus discussion, I start with a brief sketch of Plyler v. Doe, a landmark 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Plyler held that no state can limit a child’s access to public elementary and secondary education based on his or her immigration status.3 The Court struck down a Texas state statute that allowed local school districts to prevent children from attending public schools if they were not lawfully in the United States" (1128).

4. "The DREAM Act would establish several conditions for lawful status. According to the proposal as introduced in the U.S. Senate in 2011, the noncitizen individual must have been under sixteen when she arrived in the United States.11 She must have resided in the United States continuously for the five years preceding enactment of the law.12 She must have earned a high school diploma or the equivalent in the United States, or have been admitted to a U.S. college or university.13 A noncitizen meeting these requirements would be eligible to be a conditional permanent resident.14 If she is under thirty-five at the time the act passed, and attends college or serves in the U.S. military for two years, she would become a lawful permanent resident" (1130). 

Value:

This material gives me a more in depth look at how the DREAM Act functions and it gives me a lot of information on arguments for and against the Act. It gives me a look into immigration in general and how the DREAM Act relates to it overall. Furthermore, the article gives me information from a supreme court point of view and how legally it should be passed to support a supreme court decision, Plyler vs. Doe.