Badlands Blue, the internet mouthpiece of the Johnson campaign, brags about Tim Johnson's vote for cloture on the so-called Dream Act, which indicates his support for the bill, and takes John Thune to task for opposing the same. Let's take a look at the bill and what the Johnson supporters are saying about it.
Here are the basics of the bill, which I am stealing from Wikipedia. If there are errors here, please let me know:
This bi-partisan bill called The DREAM Act is a one time solution intended to provide a path to a permanent legal status for persons brought to the United States by their parents or guardians as children. This includes individuals with a current legal immigration status, individuals whose parents attempted to immigrate legally but were then denied legality after several years in application, and those initially brought here illegally at a young age.
To qualify, the immigrant student or soldier would have to meet certain requirements such as:
- Proof of having arrived in the United States at age 15 or younger.
- Proof of residence in the United States for a least five (5) consecutive years since their date of arrival.
- Must be between the ages of 12 and 30 at time of bill enactment.
- Having graduated from an American High School, or obtained a GED.
- "Good moral character," essentially defined as the absence of a significant criminal record (or any drug charges whatsoever).
Lowell says that this bill deals with the immigration status of "certain alien students" and quotes the American Prospect saying that this bill "enables undocumented-immigrant young persons to stay in the U.S." Lowell claims John Thune wants to "penalize children" by opposing this bill.
By "alien students" and "undocumented immigrants," what Lowell means is people who are in this country illegally. What "stay in the U.S." means is amnesty for those who are in this nation by violation of United States law. By "children" he means people as old as 30. Indeed, since you must have a high school diploma to be eligible, it is safe to say that no "children" are covered by this bill. I'd say that's three strikes on Lowell's accuracy.
Take a look at this backgrounder (pdf alert) from the Migration Policy Institute, who I understand to be a supporter of this bill. Note that they say that this bill gives immediate amnesty to 360,000 people aged 18-24 (not children) who are in this country illegally (MPI calls them "unauthorized"). Total numbers eligible for amnesty through this bill would total several hundred thousand more (read this backgrounder for various scenarios). This is from a supporter of the bill. The Center For Immigration Studies, who opposes the bill, estimates about 2.1 million illegals given amnesty. While not everyone covered by this bill is an illegal alien, even the supporters agree that hundreds of thousands are.
Do not misunderstand me. Last year I posted here and here giving qualified support for amnesty (or, as I said specifically, "some method of legalization"). I certainly agree that those who serve in the military should be given citizenship. But any amnesty program must go hand in hand with tighter border security, and the border security must come before the amnesty.
On a more political note, if Tim Johnson is going to run as the amnesty candidate and if Mr. Moderate is going to start taking his political bearings from the left-wing American Prospect, then perhaps his re-election will prove more difficult than most think.
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