College Board Endorses the DREAM Act, but DREAM isn't the Way to Go
Yesterday, the College Board formally endorsed the DREAM Act amnesty with their release of a report entitled, ‘Young Lives on Hold: The College Dreams of Undocumented Students.’ In its report, the College Board said that opponents of the DREAM Act fail to realize that “one-size-fits-all policies fail to take into account the diversity of the undocumented population.” But what the College Board fails to realize is that the DREAM Act is a “one-size-fits all” policy.
The DREAM Act doesn’t just reward the illegal aliens who want go to college as supporters of the bill proclaim. It also rewards their parents, who broke America’s laws to bring them into the country, along with many others who will game the system to gain legal status. The requirements for amnesty put forth by the DREAM Act are too broad and require little documentation, but the College Board fails to acknowledge the DREAM Act’s “one-size-fits-all” approach or the likelihood that millions more will be enticed to enter the United States in search of their DREAM amnesty.
In the report, the Board, which is comprised of more than 5,600 colleges and universities and takes on the responsibility of administering the SATs, calls, “for a humane and comprehensive resolution to the legal barriers that hinder undocumented students from going to college and participating fully in society.” The Board estimates that 65,000 illegal aliens graduate from high school annually. Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from qualifying for federal loans and in-state tuition rates, but nine states have passed laws allowing colleges and universities to charge the lower tuition rates if the illegal aliens meet certain criteria. The DREAM Act would not only remove the (unenforced) legal barriers preventing states from offering lower in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, but it would also make them eligible for certain federal financial aid programs and work study.
Sponsors of the DREAM Act, along with the College Board, argue that it isn’t the fault of these illegal alien children that their parents broke the law when they were brought to the United States. At the end of the report, the College Board states, “Many who have raised concern over legalization programs such as the DREAM Act argue that undocumented immigrants should not be rewarded for breaking the law.” But the College Board fails to acknowledge that the DREAM Act will offer amnesty to many more illegal aliens than just those brought into the country by their parents
In his blog about the DREAM Act, Roy created a test for the “Sincerity of DREAM Amnesty Supporters.” The test questions the real motives of the Act’s supporters. When there are 13 million Americans out of work, now is hardly the best time to offer a mass amnesty. If the College Board is so concerned with educational opportunities for the 65,000 illegal aliens about to graduate from high school, then why don’t they propose that the DREAM Act offer amnesty ONLY to those illegal aliens looking to attend institutions of higher education or serve in the military? The DREAM Act, in its current state, would allow the amnestied illegal aliens to sponsor their family members through current chain migration laws, bringing in and legalizing many more illegal aliens than just those looking to go to college. Plus, DREAM sets no numerical limits to the number of illegal aliens that can get amnesty, and there's no application deadline, so it's a rolling amnesty that can go on and on and on.
The College Board has a strong voice when it comes to the issue of higher education, but they could have used that voice to help, not harm, Americans and legal immigrants. Unemployment is at its highest rate since 1983, and the federal government continues to import 138,000 foreign workers per month, displacing thousands of American workers. What good would it do to help the 65,000 “undocumented” students who will graduate from America’s high schools in a couple months, but when they graduate from college in 2013, the feds would have imported more than 6 million more foreign workers. They'll have college educations, but will there be any jobs for them?
The College Board could have also used their voice to support the nationwide mandatory use of E-Verify. Millions of students will graduate from both high school and college this spring, but according to the Pew Hispanic Center, there are 8.3 million illegal aliens with jobs in the United States that those graduates won't be able to get.
The College Board may say they’re looking out for the 65,000 illegal aliens who will graduate from high school this spring, but the DREAM Act isn’t the way to go about it. They should endorse measures that would protect American students who won’t be able to go to college this fall because their parents were laid off over the past six months.
CHRIS CHMIELENSKI is the Website Content Manager for NumbersUSA