Pass the DREAM Act to give undocumented young people a future

UNIVERSITY of Washington President Mark Emmert has joined an impressive list of educators and corporate leaders in urging Congress to allow some students living in the United States illegally a chance to contribute to their adopted homes.

Earlier this month Emmert wrote to the state's U.S. senators confirming his support for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The act would permit these students — many brought to the United States by their parents illegally as children — to gain conditional permanent residency if they attend college or serve in the military.

They must have clean records and after six years become eligible for U.S. citizenship.

Through no fault of their own, these young people must live in the shadows, at risk of deportation. Though many achieve well academically, their futures are foreclosed by their immigration status.

But society has already invested in these young people, who are educated in our K-12 schools regardless of their immigration status. We should not waste this investment.

Since 2003, when Washington law changed to allow students without legal status to pay in-state tuition, more than 2,000 such students have enrolled at the state's colleges and universities.

Immigration reform is a divisive issue, but it makes no sense to throw away this human potential — or public investment — and that is exactly what is being done under our nation's utterly broken immigration system.

Emmert joins a growing list of endorsers, including Gov. Chris Gregoire, Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Microsoft, Macy's, American Express and many other national corporations.

The DREAM Act should be peeled away from the larger issues surrounding immigration reform and passed soon before the potential of more promising young people is squandered.