Today about a dozen young people fighting for the passage of the DREAM Act, a bill that would give undocumented young people who graduate from high school and attend college or the military a pathway to citizenship, staged a sit-in in the Senate Hart Office Building. They had a sign that said, “Undocumented and Unafraid” and “DREAM Act Now.”

This was a brave act of civil disobedience to bring attention to the plight of undocumented youth who are often are brought here at a young age and know no other country than the United States as home.

Now of course we’d expect people to criticize this. There are those who are anti-youth, anti-immigrant, anti-immigration reform….the list could go on forever.  But I would NEVER have expected one of the DREAM Act’s largest allies, Senator Durbin (IL), to chastise this act.  Senator Durbin has introduced the DREAM Act for over 10 years, however a spokesperson from his office said,

"Today's demonstrations by some DREAM Act supporters ... crossed the line from passionate advocacy to inappropriate behavior. The tide of public opinion has long been on the side of the DREAM Act -- it has broad bipartisan support in Congress and poll after poll shows that people of all political persuasion believe in its goals. Sen. Durbin believes that we will win this fight on the merits, not through public demonstrations or publicity stunts."

Seriously??

What Durbin’s office clearly does not understand is how important this imperfect bill is (I say imperfect because there are still quite a few young people who would not qualify for a path to citizenship under this bill…but that’s another blog). We are talking about people’s lives here. Young people have been deported to countries they left when they were 3.  They are currently going through deportation hearings. They are living in the shadows. Families are being torn apart.  They are denied the opportunity to attend college.  They are denied the chance to give back to the country they love.

As a former teacher, I know quite a few young people that have tried everything possible to be the best they can be.  But too often they are told that they must wait for the federal government to take action.

So while it’s great that Durbin has introduced the bill, he needs to have the GANAS to get the bill passed NOW.  His spokesman said it.  There is "bipartisan support" and "people of all political persuasion believe in its goals."  So what are they waiting for?? For too long we’ve been promised this bill’s passage. How dare he critique young people who have been working far harder than him, who are willing to take larger risks, and who will be impacted even more.   It’s because of this attitude, lack of action, and broken promises by those on the Hill that make young people decide not to vote or (hopefully) vote people OUT of office. 

Do me a favor, Amplify readers. Call Durbin at (202) 224-2152 and tell him to apologize to the Dreamers. Then call YOUR Senators and tell them to pass the DREAM Act now.  All you have to do is call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for a Senator from your state.