How the DREAM Act divides families

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on Jul 21, 2017

Someone in Washington was playing God again, deciding who stayed and who went according to a narrow definition of positive behavior.

Why stop at attending college? Why not demand that beneficiaries of the DREAM Act not accept any public assistance, or abstain from smoking, or never fall into debt, or not be unemployed for more than six months at any point in their lives?

The new bill from Graham and Durbin is a slight improvement because it covers those who "work lawfully for at least three years." But it also has a new requirement that recipients speak English and know U.S. history.

Great idea. But shouldn't we start by demanding those things from native-born U.S. citizens?

These moral judgments are all subjective, and awfully condescending. They're all about what Graham and Durbin, and the other senators who will eventually support their bill, require to make them feel comfortable with overlooking the fact that these young people are in the country illegally.

Welcome to this week's episode of the game show: "Good Immigrant, Bad Immigrant."

If Graham and Durbin want to make themselves useful in the immigration debate, they should stop treating immigrants like they're some kind of social science experiment. Instead, they should draft a bill that would eventually legalize most of the 11 million people who are in the country illegally -- whether or not they went to college or speak English.

It's no wonder that so many DREAMers experience a version of "survivor's guilt" because they were tossed a life preserver while their parents and siblings are left to drown.

All this talk about how the Trump administration is dividing families. You know what really divides families? The DREAM Act.

========

Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.