It’s a contradiction that perhaps only a public servant could face. President Barack Obama, a person in favor of granting legal status to undocumented college students, must, as president, enforce a law that sends students back to countries many of them don’t remember.
“…We should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education…,” Obama said Thursday during a speech at the American University School of International Service in Washington, D.C.
But it’s a contradiction that many, including ASU President Michael Crow, hope Obama never has to face again.
Nine years after it was first introduced in Congress, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act remains a DREAM.
In its most recent form, as Senate Bill 729, the Act would give undocumented students a chance to obtain legal status and a bachelor’s degree.
Like the president, we at The State Press would like to voice our support for the Act, which will hopefully save some of our fellow students from deportation.
But this is the last time we wish to call upon the president and our country’s lawmakers to pass this Act. Whether it be part of the comprehensive immigration legislation or a bill on its own, it’s time to make the DREAM a reality.
“We must make progress in addressing this matter in 2010,” Crow and other University presidents wrote in a letter sent to four U.S. senators in May.
With half the year already gone, Crow and the others seem a bit too hopeful. But their urgency is not misplaced. Even though Washington has a tendency of being slow, our lawmakers must understand that for students living in this country illegally, time is of the essence.
Obama already broke his promise to make immigration a top priority during his first year in office. “I fought with you in the Senate for comprehensive immigration reform,” Obama told the League of United Latin American Citizens in 2008. “And I will make it a top priority in my first year as president…”
If it weren’t for Arizona’s controversial immigration law, we might still be waiting for the president to come forth and step up his efforts to secure our borders and fix America’s “broken” immigration system.
But let the past be the past. Obama has kicked off his reform campaign, and we are on board.
In order to complete this difficult task, we need a bipartisan effort from our lawmakers in Washington. Let us repeat, Mr. President. We need a bipartisan effort from our lawmakers. As you pointed out, it’s a “political and mathematical reality” that reform is impossible without Republican votes. Therefore, we expect humility from the Republicans as well as your own party, Mr. President.
But demeaning statements like, “I’m ready to move forward; the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward; and…the majority of Americans are ready to move forward” just won’t fly against Senate GOP members who have fingers on a filibuster trigger.
Don’t forget that Republican-controlled Arizona started this year’s immigration debate. That in mind, it’s difficult to argue that Republicans aren’t ready to move forward.
We are all ready to move forward, Mr. President. Conflicting ideals are what keep us from progress.
Coming off a Fourth of July weekend, let us look to our nation’s beginning as a reminder that progress can be made despite our differing views. In 1787, men from various states representing different people spent just one summer in Philadelphia, not drafting a single law, but drafting a paper that outlined the very framework of our entire government. There were arguments. There was frustration. But they accomplished the task.
End political bickering. Unite. Work together. Pass the DREAM.
