The Benefits of the Dream Act Particularly to Immigrant Families

Policy Brief
Write a 2-page (500 word) brief for policymakers summarizing your findings from your Family
Impact Analysis Paper. Use one of the two policy brief resources posted in Blackboard as your template. Explain to policymakers how to consider the issue from a family perspective or what family considerations policymakers might want to take into account when developing their views on this issue. Students may design the brief from either an education or advocacy perspective. Rather than formatting the brief as an academic paper, design the brief to be readable and visually attractive. Please consult the grading rubric within the course’s Blackboard assignment area.
Here is the last week paper DreamAct the police brief is focusing on that paper.
Issue Background
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act. Dick Durbin and Orrin Hatch, who were U.S senators, first introduced the bill in the Senate in April 2001. The bill did not pass into law and has since been reintroduced in the Senate. The act aimed to allow immigrants to apply for conditional residency, which would later lead to permanent residence if they met all the conditions necessary. The bill proposed in 2001 (s.1291) required the applicants to provide evidence that they came to America before the age of sixteen and have lived there for five consecutive years. The applicant would also be required to have no criminal records, graduate from a high school in the U.S and be of good morals (Johnson, 2018). Passing this process would grant the conditional immigrant residence. For the permanent residence, the applicant needed to have acquired post-secondary education, have served in the U.S military for two years, and passed background checks.
Proponents of the DREAM Act were fighting for minors who had no control over the actions of their parents to go to America but were facing the consequences. Inability to establish permanent residency would mean risk of deportation of the immigrants to countries of origin, having lived in the United States for years. The opponents saw it as allowing a chain of illegal and undocumented immigration into the U.S. The bill has been reintroduced while failing. In 2010, the bill passed in the House of Representatives but died in the Senate. California enacted the DREAM Act, allowing undocumented immigrant students to access scholarships to state-owned private colleges. In 2012 under the administration of Barrack Obama, the government announced that it would not deport undocumented immigrants who met the criteria in the proposed DREAM Act. By January 2017, 740,000 people were registered under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The two versions of the act before congress are the DREAM Act of 2021 (S. 264) and the DREAM and Promise Act of 2021(H.R.6) (American Immigration Council, 2021). Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham continue to fight for the bill to be enacted.
Principle 1: Family Responsibility
Does the policy promote or hinder parents and family members from performing their responsibilities?
Promoters of the DREAM Act intended to allow undocumented minors to apply for conditional residency, which would lead to permanent residence in the U.S. Only the children of those who entered America illegally would be eligible to apply, but their parents would remain undocumented. The children would be able to access quality higher education which would later help them gain meaningful employment and support their families. Those who support this bill argue that most children of undocumented immigrants have attended American schools and graduated high school with good grades. They did not have control over their parents' decisions to enter the U.S illegally and are therefore considered innocent. Furthermore, they possess desirable traits such as hard work and the desire to contribute to the economy (Hammond, 2018).
Proponents of this act believe that children are more of a national responsibility than a family responsibility. Therefore, the government makes their futures bright by offering them permanent residency. Unlike their parents, they are not familiar with their countries of origin since they have lived most of their lives in the states. Parents are offered no benefits in this act. In any case, they face the risk of being deported back to their countries of origin.
Principle 2: Family Stability
Does the act promote or discourage family stability?
Does the policy encourage or prevent unity among the children, parents, and other family members?
The policy hinders family unity because the children eligible for residency are regarded as American, while their parents are considered criminals (Sirriyeh, 2019). The parents risk being deported and leaving their children behind, which would shake the stability of such families. The act does not consider the family unit and its significance but instead promotes individualism.
Some children may not meet all the requirements to apply for residency, thus blocking them from being eligible for benefits. No direct assistance is offered to undocumented family members, and therefore the privileged members are bound to lead better lives. Having some siblings qualify and others locked out may breed resentment among them, thus threatening the family unity. Policymakers formulate laws that only favor and highlight the eligible individuals. There are no packages to benefit other family members, so they remain in a sorry state while some are elevated. This situation promotes the likelihood of instability in the family unit.
Additionally, applying for conditional residency may expose other family members who are not qualified. Although done unwillingly, parents may face the consequences of illegal immigration. They may, for instance, be deported back to their countries of origin while leaving their children behind. The distance in geographical location and difference in citizenship would shake the stability of a family.
Principle 3: Family Relationships
Does the policy favor how family members relate?
How does the policy affect family ties?
The DREAM Act argues that children are innocent and not responsible for their parents' decisions and actions. It is, therefore, wrong to punish them for their parents' transgressions. On the other hand, parents are projected as criminals for immigrating illegally. The policymakers, therefore, get to decide the excellent family members and those that are bad. Those who qualify for conditional residency enjoy benefits from the government while the others are left out. Creating an illusion of superior and inferior family members may affect how they relate.
The Dreamers are portrayed as possessing American ideals. They are hardworking, talented, and ambitious to contribute to the economy. On the other hand, their parents are described as dependent, unskilled, uneducated, problematic, and burden the country. This negative view causes discrimination among the family members, which hurts relationships.
Principle 4: Family Diversity
How will the policy appreciate family diversity?
The family setup of immigrants is different from that of native Americans. Immigrant families tend to be mixed-status, with some members being registered Americans and others, illegal immigrants. Their families are more extensive and twice likely to have several generations living in one house. Native Americans have smaller households, mostly with two heterosexual parents.
Through assimilation and acculturation, immigrant families have adopted some habits of native Americans. As a result of living in the host country for a long time, the immigrants may fully adopt the norms of the host and forget their own. Undocumented immigrant children believe America is their home because they grew up there and adopted their culture. They are not familiar with the norms of their countries of origin. The DREAM Act encourages immigrant children to embrace the western culture, and American standards measure their qualifications. Their values and morals are judged as per what is acceptable in the U.S.
Principle 5: Family Engagement
Does the policy involve the family to balance the interests of different families?
How will the act ensure that families are not subjected to stigmatization?
The DREAM act portrays the immigrant children positively while painting a bad picture of their parents. The parents are considered unlawful, immoral, and lawbreakers who do not possess the ideal American traits. Benefits are only offered to undocumented immigrant children, while the parents face the risk of deportation to their countries of origin. The family members who are not considered in the act face extreme hardship in the host country, making their life difficult (Fiorito, 2019). The policy does not engage the family to facilitate the transition of children who qualify for conditional residency. The act does not consider how the family unit will be reorganized after the change.
Recommendations
The DREAM Act should be enacted to facilitate the documentation of qualified immigrant children. The policymakers should incorporate measures to ensure that the family unit is not compromised and amend the act to include the diverse cultures of immigrants. Additionally, the policy should encourage the immigrants who receive benefits to contribute to their families' development once they are stable enough. Policymakers should also include provisions that promote how families relate, whether they qualify for conditional residency or not.
Conclusion
The DREAM Act would benefit both individuals and the country in many ways. Those who qualify for conditional residency possess desirable traits such as resilience, hardworking performance-oriented. They would contribute to the growth of the economy if given a chance. Once enacted, the policy would allow immigrant children to access quality higher education. They would then contribute to the pool of professionals, building the country's income through taxes. The employed professionals would also contribute to essential programs such as the social security fund. The family members who do not qualify for conditional residency should be offered some incentive if they meet the minimum requirements.
References
American Immigration Council. (2021, March 16). The DREAM Act: An Overview. Retrieved from American Immigration Council: www(dot)americanimmigrationcouncil(dot)org/research/dream-act-overview
Fiorito, T. R. (2019). Beyond the dreamers: Collective identity and subjectivity in the undocumented youth movement. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 24(3), 345-363.
Hammond, A. (2018). The Immigration- Welfare Nexus in a New Era. Lewis & Clark L. Rev., 22, 501.
Johnson, A. (2018). The DREAM Act: It's Past and Future, Opposition, and the Media. Soc. Just. & Equity LJ 2, 216.
Sirriyeh, A. (2019). 'Felons are also our family': citizenship and solidarity in the undocumented youth movement in the United States. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 45(1), 133-150.