Illegal immigrants pin hopes, again, on "Dream Act"

After graduating in June with a degree in social work from Eastern Washington University, a 24-year-old Tacoma woman — the first in her family to go to college — returned to the campus this week to begin pursuing a master's degree.

After that, she'll probably seek her doctorate.

She acknowledges that she's only delaying the inevitable, knowing that as an illegal immigrant she won't find employment as a social worker.

Going to school is a way to "kill time, while I wait for something to give," said the woman, who asked that her name not be used.

The break she seeks could come this week, if the U.S. Senate votes on an amendment to a Department of Defense spending bill allowing illegal immigrants to earn legal status by enrolling in college or entering the military for two years.

The so-called Dream Act — short for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act — would apply to illegal immigrants under 30 who came to the United States before they were 16, have lived here for at least five years, graduated from a U.S. high school and stayed out of trouble.

Supporters estimate that U.S. high schools graduate about 65,000 such students a year. They say an estimated 360,000 college students or recent graduates could benefit.

The Tacoma woman graduated from Henry Foss High School after coming here from Mexico 10 years ago with her parents, who found jobs as restaurant workers. Much about her future is riding on the Senate's action, she said.

"I'm keeping myself busy, hoping the Dream Act will pass and by the time I graduate I will be able to work."

To become a social worker, "you're required to be certified by the state, even if you're with a private agency," she said. "You have to be legal, and there's no way around it."

Caroline Espinosa, spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, which is urging defeat of the measure, calls it a form of amnesty. She said while this woman's circumstances are unfortunate, they are the result of bad decisions by her parents.

"When you offer amnesty like that it only encourages more illegal behavior," Espinosa said. "We need to send the message that if you come here illegally you will not be rewarded."

First introduced as a separate bill in 2001, the Dream Act has enjoyed bipartisan support and this spring was part of a comprehensive immigration-reform measure that stalled in the Senate. Military service as one of the paths to legalization was added later.

Margaret Stock, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and an associate professor at the U.S. Military Academy, said illegal-immigrant high-school students often call recruiters asking if they can enlist in the military — and are turned away.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who is sponsoring the amendment, said attaching it to the defense bill is appropriate because the Dream Act would "address a very serious recruitment crisis that faces our military."

These high-school graduates "are eager to serve in the armed forces during a time of war and, under the Dream Act, they would have a very strong incentive to enlist because it would give them a path to permanent legal status."

Some who normally support immigration reject the military component, saying it encourages young undocumented immigrants to risk their lives for a country that has rejected them.

Others say it's the best they can do for now.

"In an ideal world, we would have more options for the Dream Act," said Joshua Bernstein of the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group.

Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project in Seattle, which was behind a measure passed by the state Legislature in 2003 allowing illegal-immigrant students to pay in-state tuition, said the Dream Act fulfills that promise to them.

"These students, while they have more access to college, still have considerable obstacles," he said. "Even with a degree they still won't be able to work here legally."

Because federal financial aid is not available to them, many choose community colleges over four-year institutions — or choose nothing at all.

"We tell them, 'Get your education and we're going to try as hard as we can to get the law passed.' "

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420 or lturnbull@seattletimes.com