Senate Fails on Dream Act

People are NOT Political Pinatas

Right after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had an influx of Mexican workers.  Many spent their evenings at Vaughn’s because owner Cindy has a house in Mexico and has a lot of cantina music on the juke box.  She also runs a gift store that sells native art from all over Mexico.  There’s a side room  with a TV that’s mostly on soccer too.  We’re a very welcoming neighborhood.   The upper 9 is pretty diverse and tolerate.  We’re known as the place where the gay community, artists, writers and musicians live as well as a huge number of working class people.  It’s an inner city hood.  Make no doubt about that. Most of the neighborhood didn’t didn’t flood since it’s so close to the Mississippi. It was a natural place for recovery workers to dwell.   We’re one mile east of the French Quarter via the River Road.  Close enough to walk, bike or take the shuttle, but far enough to miss Mardi Gras madness and tourists.

Anyway, I got to meet a young man in his early 20s there.  He was extremely cute, had a wicked crush on my neighbor, and you wouldn’t know he was Mexican because he could barely speak Spanish.  He’d been brought to the country as a baby and was educated in U.S. schools.  For all intents and purposes, Juan is a typical American young adult about the age of my oldest daughter.  But, if he were picked up by ICE, he would be sent back to a country where he knows no one, can’t speak the language very well, and has absolutely no attachments.  Why would we do that?  His story compelled me to find out more about the Dream Act.  I can’t see visiting the ‘sins’ of the elders on kids like these.  Current immigration policy is way too harsh.

Evidently, Senate Republicans and RINOs disagree with me.

The Senate failed Juan and many other kids of various foreign births in similar situations. (I was surprised to find how many Irish and New Zealand illegals we have in New Orleans so it’s not just all about Mexicans, but their numbers are obviously larger.)  This information is from the NYT and David Herszenhorn. To me, Passing the Dream Act should’ve been a no brainer.  The Republicans held together in their block of “no to everything we didn’t think of” and then there were the usual RINOs like Ben Nelson who represent the neanderthal wing of the Democratic Party.

The Senate on Saturday blocked a bill that would have created a path to citizenship for certain young illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, completed two years of college or military service and met other requirements, including passing a criminal background check.

The vote by 55-41 in favor of the bill, which is known as the Dream Act, effectively kills it for this year, and its fate is uncertain. The measure needed the support of 60 senators to cut off a filibuster and bring it to the floor.

Supporters said they were heartened that the measure won the backing of a majority of the Senate. They said they would continue to press for it, either on its own or as part of a wide immigration overhaul that some Democrats hope to undertake next year and believe could be an area of cooperation with Republicans, who will control a majority in the House

Most immediately, the measure would have helped grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students and recent graduates whose lives are severely restricted though many have lived in the United States for nearly their entire lives.

Young Hispanic men and women filled the spectator galleries of the Senate, many of them wearing graduation caps and tassels in a symbol of their support for the bill. They held hands in a prayerful gesture as the clerk called the roll and many looked stricken as its defeat was announced.

President Obama had personally lobbied lawmakers in support the bill. But Democrats were not able to hold ranks.

Five Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the bill. They were Democratic Senators Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Jon Tester of Montana.

I’ve never been sure why we make it so hard for people to get citizenship here.  My Lama–a Sherpa from Nepal– just got his citizenship last year via his religious VISA and green card being the lama at our Dharma Center.  I’m sponsoring his young son who just started at UNO and wants to be a doctor. His daughter is in Massachusetts now with other sangha family going to community college.  I’ve been sponsoring Sherpas for some time now.

There are lots of students I meet from other countries that major in areas where we could used some help.  Of course, any service to our country through military or other duty should be rewarded.  But, some folks just cling to some xenophobic idea of being overrun by outsiders or something.  This confuses me because if some one really wants to be an American and contribute, we should reward it.  We shouldn’t make villains of the very people that want to be us.  The senate garnered 55 votes.  That’s a clear majority.  Something is very wrong right now with the beltway.  So many people’s lives should not be held hostage by a belligerent minority.  People are not political pinatas.