Legislative Watch

2006

During the immigration debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S.2611), a complex bill that although includes some needed reforms, is far from perfect. Amended to this bill is the DREAM Act which was introduced with a voice vote.

We are now waiting for the conference committee between the House and the Senate to produce a bill that would be sent to the President's desk.

2005

In November 2005, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and a bipartisan group of senators officially reintroduced the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (S. 2075). The law addresses the situations faced by young people who were brought to the United States years ago as undocumented immigrant children but who have since grown up here, attended schools here, and have kept good moral character.
The features of the DREAM Act of 2005 are nearly identical to the version that passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2003 with the exception of the 910 hours of volunteer community service which has been taken off in the recently introduced S. 2075

2003-2004

The federal Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act (S 1545), which was sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), would facilitate state efforts to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students. Current law discourages states from providing in-state tuition or other higher education benefits without regard to immigration status. The DREAM Act would provide a mechanism for children of undocumented parents to obtain legal residency by permitting immigrant students who meet certain conditions to apply for temporary legal status and eventually obtain permanent status. Essentially, 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 normally would last for six years. Then, during the conditional period, the immigrant would be required to go to college or join the military. 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.
The leading bill in the House addressing the same issue was HR 1684 (Cannon, R-UT), known as the Student Adjustment Act. HR 1684 was introduced in 2004 and gained large bi-partisan support.

Both the DREAM Act and the House companion bill are awaiting reintroduction in the 109th Congress (2005-6). At the close of the 108th Congress, the DREAM Act had been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 16-3 bipartisan vote and had 48 Senate cosponsors. The House bill had the support of 153 representatives.

2001

During the 77th Texas State Legislative Session, the Legislature passed HB 1403 (Noriega, D-Houston), which allows the high school graduate children of undocumented individuals to attend state colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. Prior to passage of that law, Texas-resident children of undocumented individuals were required to pay high out-of-state tuition rates, thus largely precluding them from attending college altogether.