The DREAM (Dream, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act is an American law that was first accented to in 2001 by the Senate. This act provided residency options for immigrant minors whose character was considered exemplary. This law applies only to young immigrant adults of good conduct and who have successfully passed the US high school curriculum in addition to having lived on American soil for a consecutive five years before this bill was passed (The Dream Act Portal).
The DREAM Act is not a fair document in very many aspects; first, the terms that qualify one to be a citizen are not reasonable. Beginning with the condition that is aimed at aliens who have served in the military because the military does not allow illegal immigrants to sign up for service hence if at all an alien gets to enlist it will take them a long time to be considered for citizenship. This is clearly seen by the fact that the military service has a minimum of eight years required for commitment and this too long and the bill does not have provisions for older immigrants. Furthermore, in cases of aliens who enlist in the military using fraudulent means like false documents they are forced to restart the whole process “Any alien whose permanent resident status is terminated shall return to the immigration status the alien had immediately prior to receiving conditional permanent resident status under this act” (Maze 2006).
This bill also requires the alien not to have a non-immigrant ( ) travel document this is an issue since most of the immigration documents are obtained illegally this cannot be guaranteed for the immigrant. The alien should have arrived in the United States before they are sixteen years of age after which they have to live in the US for five years and have documented proof of this stay. This restricts the number of aliens given a chance at being American citizens and the age limit bars more immigrants who are not given any alternative because of their age (Lee 2006).
This bill has a small condition “ If male, have registered with the Selective Service” this can tantamount to gender discrimination and the reason for it can be viewed as favoring aliens of one gender and despising the other. The immigrants are supposed to have attended an American high school and should be eligible to join a higher learning institution, this is almost impossible for all the twelve states that have passed some form of the DREAM act impose additional conditions for the admission of aliens into a learning institution this include extra fees for non-Americans. The condition that requires each individual to be of good character is subject to bias since native citizens are known to have a prejudice against foreigners in general and this extends to all other immigrants (Immigration Policy Center).
Conclusion
The above explanations show how the DREAM act poses a lot of complications to the process they go through in trying to become American citizens. The whole process takes a lot of time in fulfilling the conditions for full nationality. The two options for academic or military qualifications do not coalesce at any point hence having both qualifications do not increase your chances of being awarded citizenship. Despite the various demerits the act has its benefits such as it keeps the number of immigrants in check, the documentation of these aliens is useful for planning and finally, the ethics requirements ensure that the aliens awarded citizenship are of good integrity.
Works Cited
Immigration Policy Center. The Dream Act. 2013. Web.
Lee, Young. To dream or not to dream. Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy. 16(1). 231–258. 2006. Web.
Maze, Rick. Bill would grant citizenship for service. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.
The Dream Act Portal. Dream Act. 2013. Web.