INVASION USA
Reid reviving 'amnesty' for illegals
'DREAM' grant of legality to millions on fast track for vote tomorrow
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58290Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is reviving and fast-tracking plans to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens already within U.S. boundaries, and a vote is expected as early as tomorrow, according to opponents.
Just a few months after intense pressure from U.S. citizens triggered the rejection of President Bush's comprehensive immigration plan, a compromise supported by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. the DREAM Act proposal by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. is being rushed through the Senate.
Durbin's office refused to return a WND call requesting comment.
"In many ways this bill is worse than Bush-Kennedy because this is blatant deception on the part of the Senate to get a massive amnesty passed," asserted Steve Elliott, president of Grassfire.org.
Some of the provisions of the plan, called DREAM for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, include:
Conditional legal status for any illegal alien who claims to have arrived in the U.S. prior to age 16.
Any illegal alien can apply for the program.
Those who gain legal status then can sponsor any family members, allowing additional millions to access the program.
There would be a ban on deportation for anyone who applies.
Illegals would be granted taxpayer-funded in-state tuition rates for college.
Elliott's organization and others, including Numbers USA, have launched telephone, online and fax petitions for voters to contact their senators and let them know their opinions on the plan.
"This is not a drill. This is the real thing," Numbers USA warned in an alert to constituents. "Our Capitol Hill Team just contacted me and reported that Senate Majority Leader Reid has just filed for 'cloture' on S. 2205 (the DREAM ACT amnesty.)"
"Reid is hell-bent on getting this amnesty through the Senate as fast as possible and before we can fully mobilize the country as happened when we defeated his Comprehensive Amnesty bill in June," the group said. "He is using the Rule 14 & to avoid any committee debate, hearings or deliberations. Filing for cloture means that he can bring the amnesty up on Wednesday."
An estimated 12-20 million illegal aliens are already in the U.S., but Numbers USA warned the legislation would "entice millions more people to become illegal aliens here."
Further, the plan includes "no extra enforcement" to provide any stability or security to national borders, the group said.
In a commentary, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly said it creates the circumstances where the violation of U.S. immigration law is rewarded.
"The illegal immigrant who applies for the DREAM Act can count his years under conditional green card status toward the five years needed to attain citizenship. That's a fast track to citizenship that is not available to aliens who are lawfully present in the United States," she said. "Giving in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants is so unpopular with many Americans that the only way a congressman could support this bill is by hoping it passes before the public discovers how bad it is. Arizona's Proposition 300, which specifically bars Arizona universities from giving in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, passed in 2006 with a majority of 71.4 percent."
As WND reported, Durbin brought up the DREAM Act after Bush's comprehensive plan died in June.
