Letters: Visions of the DREAM
 

Letters: Visions of the DREAM
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
A nightmare
The editorial "Sins of the parents" (Page B11, Tuesday) paints a sympathetic picture of potential beneficiaries of the DREAM Act. But the facts should be the first consideration when Congress passes any bill. The DREAM Act puts the interests of illegal immigrants above Americans. It grants them amnesty, allows them to receive a taxpayer-subsidized education at public universities, and will lead to further illegal immigration. And in a time of economic hardship, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will cost between $5 billion and $20 billion in the years following 2020.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, the DREAM Act could mean mass amnesty for more than 2 million illegal immigrants. It grants amnesty to those who are under the age of 30 and complete two years of college or military service. Once the DREAM Act's amnesty recipients become citizens and turn 21, they can sponsor their illegal immigrant parents and spouse for legalization. Just like other amnesties that have been enacted, the DREAM Act is a magnet for fraud. Many illegal immigrants will falsely claim that they arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16, just in order to get the amnesty.
And once the DREAM Act beneficiaries apply for amnesty, they will be given work authorization. So these individuals who have broken the law will be legitimately competing for jobs with the 9.8 percent of Americans who are currently unemployed.
The DREAM Act subsidizes education for illegal immigrants, grants them mass amnesty, encourages more illegal immigration and inevitably takes jobs from American workers.
Simply put, the DREAM Act is a nightmare for the American people.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, San Antonio
Winning situation
I was happy to see some good sense about young people who are eligible for the DREAM Act and about the benefits to our country of its passing.
As a teacher who taught in a predominately Hispanic high school, I feel passionate about giving these young people a chance.
These are the kids who, with all odds stacked against them, attended school regularly, did their homework, passed the tests, passed the TAKS, graduated and now demonstrate the aptitude and motivation to succeed in college or to serve or perhaps make a career in the armed forces.
Allowing them to prepare for and work in a profession not only would increase U.S. revenue and decrease the deficit, as stated in the study by the Congressional Budget office, it also would permit them to contribute to our Social Security system. This infusion of young workers would greatly help to defray the costs associated with our retiring baby boomers.
It is a sad commentary about our society if we continue to punish children for decisions that they didn't make and reject the contributions of these high-achieving young people who have grown up among us.
Elizabeth Heimann, Houston
Harmful to us
Regardless of humanitarian issues, the No. 1 issue for American taxpayers is the fact that there are really no cheaper goods and services obtained from the millions of illegal immigrants as a whole when you factor in the billions of dollars that are spent and will be spent for the requisite social welfare provided for the gross majority of them.
To legitimize these illegal immigrants and not take steps to promote their exit from the United States is to continue outrageous taxing to provide for more schools, school buses, free lunches, bilingual teachers, law enforcement, expanding prisons, more payments toward their free attorneys, Medicaid for pregnant women, those on dialysis and other chronic rehab services, costs for hit-and-run accidents, housing subsidies, medical care from emergency rooms and for-profit/not-for-profit hospitals as well as from tax-supported hospital districts.
We need to notify our representatives to vote against the DREAM Act and support enforcement of our immigration/border laws.
Charles J. Neilson, Sugar Land
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...k/7334417.html