Passing of DREAM Act is very unlikely in next Congress, Republicans say [View All]

[The Northerner]

Congressional Republicans are pronouncing President Obama's proposal that the next Congress overhaul the country's immigration laws as dead before arrival.

In his year-end news conference on Wednesday, Obama said his biggest regret about the recent lame-duck session of Congress was the defeat of the DREAM Act, a measure that offered a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children.

"It is heartbreaking," Obama said, as he explained how such immigrants often realized that they were without legal status only when they tried to go to college or join the military. "That can't be who we are. To have our kids, classmates of our children, who are suddenly under this shadow of fear through no fault of their own. They didn't break the law - they were kids."

Congressional Republicans said in interviews on Thursday that their concerns about the measure remained strong, and both House and Senate GOP leaders said they would fight any attempt to legalize any of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country before the administration secured the nation's southern border with Mexico.

"It is pointless to talk about any new immigration bills that grant amnesty until we secure the border, since such bills will only encourage more illegal immigration," incoming House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) said in a statement.

In an interview, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the House immigration subcommittee, accused Obama of playing politics with immigration and toying with Latino voters.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/23/AR2010122303480.html


More BS from the repukelicans, again! I wonder what their reactions will be when they're proven wrong?

I'll also bet anything that the DREAM Act & immigration reform pass overwhelmingly in both chambers during the next session. :)

They'll be steamrolled in 2011!