DREAM Act Yearbook

Book Tells Individual Stories of Young People Who Would Be Affected by Legislation Debated in the Senate

WASHINGTON, DC -- On the eve of an historic vote on the fate of the DREAM Act, the National Immigration Law Center and a coalition of civil rights, education, child advocacy, and labor organizations have released the “DREAM Act 2010 Yearbook,” featuring the personal stories of undocumented young men and women who would benefit from this legislation. If passed tomorrow, the DREAM Act will provide undocumented young people who were brought to this country as children with a pathway to legal status if they attend college or enlist in the military.

“Discussions about the DREAM Act are too often devoid of the faces behind the legislation. With so many barrels of ink spilled over the relative merits and costs of the DREAM Act, it’s little wonder that we forget about the people who would be most impacted by this legislation,” said Tyler Moran, federal policy director for the National Immigration Law Center. “We hope that the young men and women in this yearbook remind all those engaged in this debate that this legislation should not be about politics, but about sound policy for the children who have grown up here.”

The children and young adults profiled in this yearbook are from small towns and big cities, and have diverse professional and personal aspirations. Many have already obtained degrees in desperately-needed medical and technological professions.

First introduced in 2001, the DREAM Act has long enjoyed bipartisan support. Last week, it was passed by the House of Representatives with a vote of 216 to 198. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated that the DREAM Act will come to a vote in the Senate tomorrow.

For more information about the DREAM Act, visithttp://nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/index.htm.