Durbin to Take Another Try on DREAM Act

By Prescott Carlson in News on May 10, 2011 8:50PM

Illinois' own U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has announced that he's going to take another stab at getting his pet project DREAM Act passed, and plans on reintroducing the bill on Wednesday in conjunction with a similar bill to be filed by U.S. Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA28) in the House.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, an "amnesty bill" that has had right-wing talk radio foaming at the mouth for almost a decade, is a proposal that would grant both legal and illegal immigrant minors a chance to become "conditional non-immigrants" provided they have been residents in the United States for at least 5 years, were younger than 16 years old when they came to the U.S., have been a "person of good moral character," and has earned a high school diploma and/or been admitted to an "institution of higher education."

The bill was brought back into the spotlight in 2009 when it was re-introduced to both the House and Senate, but after a drawn out political battle it was declared Dead via Filibuster in December of last year, and one more try in February ended in another defeat. At the time, Durbin was quoted as saying that he would "never give up this fight," and now he aims to prove it. While Durbin's office is keeping mum on the details of the re-worked bill, a spokesman reportedly confirmed Durbin will hold an event in Washington, D.C. tomorrow where he will put the shock paddles on the DREAM Act one more time.

Durbin's confidence may have been boosted by the Illinois state Senate solidly passing its own version of the DREAM Act last week, which would grant state scholarships to undocumented students accepted into college, as well as allowing immigrants ages 18 to 29 to participate in the Bright Start and College Illinois programs.