Of Dreams and Dreamers
By Albert B. Kelly
It is one of those things that you don’t think about at the
time, but in retrospect, you see the consequences clearly. It’s what didn’t
happen in late 2001. That August the DREAM Act, or Development, Relief, and
Education for Alien Minors Act, was introduced in the Senate.
It was a bill that created a pathway to citizenship for
those people brought to the United States illegally as children. Step one was conditional
residency and, upon meeting additional criteria, permanent residency. The
vetting of these young people would have been vigorous.
They would have had to show proof they were brought into the
country before the age of 16 and not on a non-immigrant visa. They would have
had to show that they had been in the country for 5 consecutive years, been
between 12 and 35 years of age when the bill became law, a high school graduate/GED,
or admitted to college with a clean criminal background check, and be of good
moral character.
Things were going well and the bill was moving along in late
2001 on its way to passage but then the towers fell in a terrorist attack on
September 11th and the world got turned upside down. By the time
anyone got back to thinking about the DREAM act in any serious way, immigrants
and aliens became synonymous with “terrorist” for half the country and the bill
was never passed.
For the next decade or so, the DREAM Act was reintroduced at
various times and while it might pass one chamber or the other, it never made
it across the finish line. By 2010, partisan politics had gotten so bad that if
one side supported something the other side automatically opposed it. Such was
the fate of the DREAM Act.
Enter DACA or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It was
created by President Obama in June 2012 and it was meant to accomplish some portion
of what was intended with the DREAM Act. The policy basically allowed some
individuals brought to the country illegally as minors to register every 2 years
and receive deferred action from deportation and work permits- this vetting was
also vigorous.
In recent weeks, the current administration has rescinded
DACA with a 6-month window in which Congress can pass legislation to do what
was originally intended under the DREAM Act and what was partially addressed by
DACA. It’s anyone’s guess what Congress will do, but now is the time to make
your voice heard.
There’s a lot to unpack with DACA. According to research in
the NY Times by Alicia Parlapiano and Karen Yourish, there are roughly 800,000
DACA recipients in the country and about 22,000 here in NJ.
Most come from Mexico and Central America and the median age
was 6 years-old at the time of entry with 3 being the most common age. Think
about what it means to take someone who has lived here since they were 3, 4, or
5 years-old and then just dump them into some other country.
They won’t know the culture, in many cases they don’t know the
language; but mostly they don’t know the pecking order- the unwritten rules, the
very stuff that makes one part of an ecosystem and connected to a people and a
place. I can’t imagine the fear, heartache, and stress of these people who’ve
lived most all of their life here.
In terms of economic impact, these are achievers and research
suggests the act increased wages and labor force participation of DACA-eligible
immigrants, while reducing the number of immigrant households living in poverty.
An estimated 19,161 are employed in multiple industries and their collective absence
from the labor force would cause an annual GDP loss of approximately $1,587,108,546-
no small loss.
Beyond the dollars and cents, these are our friends and
neighbors, employers and employees, students, parents, volunteers,
fellow-parishioners and whatever else makes up the fabric of a community- they
need our help to remain home.
To communicate with Congressman Frank LoBiondo in DC, you
can call (202) 225-6572 or write to him at 2427 Rayburn Building, Washington
D.C. 20515; his Mays Landing office is (609) 625-5008, located at 5914 Main
Street, Suite 103, Mays Landing NJ 08330.
For Senator Robert Menendez call (856) 757-5353 or write to
Barrington Commons, 208 Black Horse Pike, Suite 18, Barrington NJ 08007. For
Senator Cory Booker, call (856) 338-8922 or write to One Port Center, 2
Riverside Drive, #505, Camden NJ 08101