Every year the government deports
American teenagers -- who have gone to school here and are on their way
to productive careers -- to Latin American and Caribbean nations they
may not have seen since infancy. It's for that reason that legislators
of both parties support the Dream Act, which would enable 65,000 high
school graduates who are undocumented to become citizens if they
complete college, and allow them to pay the in-state rate for
tuition at public colleges and universities. The Dream Act passed the
Senate Judiciary Committee last fall, with heavy bipartisan backing and
the support of Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. But like the
Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003, or Ag
Jobs, which also looked bound for passage until some recent
mind-boggling legislative maneuvers, it has fallen prey to the Bush
administration's reluctance to do anything that might rouse the ire of
the nativist right.[ more]
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