29 Mar 2004 Since the Washington Post Wouldn’t Tell Me, I Did My Own Digging
Doing some of my own research (see blog entry immediately below), I found this description of the “Dream Act” (S. 1545) on the website of the the National Immigration Law Center.
The legislation reportedly is sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), and has a companion bill in the House, HR 1684. It does indeed apply to illegal aliens.
Here is a brief description of the bill from the National Immigration Law Center website:
“DREAM 2003 sets up a two-stage process for applying for legal status. Immigrant students who have grown up in the U.S., graduated from high school here, and can demonstrate good moral character would initially qualify for “conditional lawful permanent resident” status, which would normally last for six years. During the conditional period, the immigrant would be required to go to college, join the military, or work a significant number of hours of community service. At the end of the conditional period, those who meet at least one of these requirements would be eligible for regular lawful permanent resident status.
If enacted, DREAM 2003 would have a life-changing impact on the students who qualify, dramatically increasing their average future earnings-and, consequently, the amount of taxes they would pay-while significantly reducing criminal justice and social services costs to taxpayers.”
An additional note of interest: The National Immigration Law Center lists the following sources of financial support on its website:
The California Endowment
California Wellness Foundation
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Ford Foundation
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Emma Lazarus Fund – Open Society Institute
Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Norman Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Rosenberg Foundation
San Diego Foundation
State Bar of California – Legal Services Trust Fund Program
U.S. Department of Justice – Office of Special Counsel
Notice that last one.
The National Immigration Law Center didn’t sponsor the attack on Rove’s house, however. (Nor is there any word that Senators Hatch and Durbin were present.) That was done by a group called National People’s Action. I could not find any information about who funds them on their website, but there is an amusing old story in the Houston Business Journal about the group protesting at then-Senator Phil Gramm’s house. They were mad because the Senator wanted to 1) amend the Community Reinvestment Act to exempt rural banks from rules covering urban lending and 2) permit the law to assume that banks in long-term compliance with the CRA are still in compliance during the period between mandatory CRA inspections, unless evidence of non-compliance is presented.
This reasonable point of view led National People’s Action to throw flyers all over Gramm’s yard.
National People’s Action says it is a coalition of organizations. It is clear that some of their members receive tax dollars, but that doesn’t necessary mean tax money flows to National People’s Action. It could just as easily be funded by banks afraid of pickets, or the usual left-wing foundations.
Ironically, the DREAM Act would apply to illegal aliens of “good moral character,” yet its supporters broke the law at Rove’s house to promote it.