HomeMy WebLinkAbout6A - DREAM ActWE~KLY INFORMATIONAL PACKET
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor Toor and Members of C~ty Council
TROM: Human Relations Commiss~on
Carmen Atilano, Admm~strator, Office of Human R~ghts, HHS
Richard Johnson, D~rector, D~v~s~on of Commumty Services, HHS
DATE: March 20, 2003
SUBJECT: Action Item C~ty Council Support for the Development, Rehef, and
Education for Al~en Nlinors Act" (DREAM Act)
At ~ts March 17, 2003, meetmg the Human Relat~ons Comm~ss~on voted 5-0 to request
that City Council aggress~vely support the D12EAM Act
The cons~deration of the DREAM Act was imtiated by a community request
Backgro~md on the Dream Act
Every year, h~gh schools around the country graduate a s~gmficant number of talented
~mmigrant students, many of whom have grown up m the Umted States, attended the
same elementary and secondary schools as natrve-born students, and excelled at the same
academ~c requ~rements as the~r classmates Like their U S-bom classmates, these
students share the same dream of pursumg a higher education Unfortunately, they lack
access to the state and federal financial ass~stance and m-state twt~on rates auailable to
their U S-born peers, makmg it virtually impossible for these students to afford a college
educat~on
Several bipartisan bills were mtroduced durmg the 107th Congress to address this issue
In the Senate, Senators Orrm Hatch and R~chard Durbm sponsored the "Development,
Rel~ef and Educat~on for Al~en Mmors Act " In the House, several b~lls wee mtroduced
as well Among them was the "Student Ad~ustment Act," mtroduced by Representat~ves
Chns Cannon, Howard Berman and Lucille Roybal-Allard if enacted, both b~lls would
facilrtate access to postsecondaty educational opportumties for immigrant Latmos and
other students m the Umted States who currently face barners m financmg college
education They would also allow hardworking imm~grant youth who have long resided
m the U S the chance to ad~ust their status, enablmg them to contr~bute fully to soc~ety
The "DREAM AcY' would repeal Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Imm~grant Respons~bil~ty Act of 1996, wh~ch requires any state that provides m-state
turt~on to undocumented ~mm~grant to prov~de the same tuihon rate to out-of-state
residents Section 505, therefore, d~scourages many states from offenng m-state turtion
rates to undocumented students and thus, its repeal would restore a state's nght m
determmmg criteria for state higher educat~on benefits
Status of Legislation
Introduced durmg the 107th Congress, the DREAM Act was welcomed with strong
bipart~san support While the DREAM Act was not enacted m 2002 and will need to be
remtroduced durmg the current Congress, rt d~d make substanhal progress dunng the last
congressiona- session and was approved by the Senate Jud~c~ary Comm~ttee by a vo~ce
vote m June 2002 It ~s anticipated that the bill will be remtroduced m the current
congress~onalsession
Action Requested of City Council
The Boulder Human Relat~ons Commission requests that C~ty Council take an offic~al
posmon m support of the DREAM Act, and that the C~ty contact Senators Allard and
Campbell and Representative Udall to urge them to sign on as co-sponsors of this
legislation The Dream Act ~s expected to be mtroduced the week of Apnl 12, designated
as National Dream Act Week by those m support of the bill The HRC requests that
Council take act~on m support of th~s legslarion and commumcate with Boulder's
Congressional before that date