“The teenage girl peers into the camera, ready to divulge a secret,” Beth Fouhy reports for Yahoo News. “‘All my siblings are documented except me,’ says the girl, identified onscreen as Cendy. ‘I know I have a lot of potential but that I might not get there because my status will hold me back.’ Cendy is one of millions of immigrants who were brought illegally to the U.S. as children—a group known as ‘DREAMers’ by advocates of the Dream Act, a federal bill first introduced in the Senate in 2001 to allow them a pathway to permanent residency. To push for passage of the provisions in the Dream Act, Cendy and others agreed to share their stories on www.thedreamisnow.org, a website launched Tuesday by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (‘Waiting for Superman’ and ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ ) and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs.”
“The project allows young undocumented immigrants to submit videos describing how their lives would change if the Dream Act were passed. Others can also submit posts, including teachers, relatives and friends of the young immigrants, as well as those involved in developing policy around immigration,” Fouhy reports. “Immigration reform looms large as a legislative priority for President Barack Obama and for Republicans hoping to improve the party’s status among Hispanic voters.”
Fouhy reports, “Powell Jobs told Yahoo News the new project was an effort to harness the momentum around the issue and give visibility to the young people who would benefit from the Dream Act. ‘There needed to be a demystification—to put a face to these people, to hear the individual stories,’ Powell Jobs said in one of the few interviews she has granted since Steve Jobs’ death in 2011… The Dream Act would legalize young people under the age of 30 who entered the U.S. before they were 15 and have lived in the country continuously for five years. To earn legal status and eventually a path to citizenship, applicants would have to prove they have no criminal record and either enlist in the military or attend at least two years of college. (Some versions of the bill would require only a high-school degree for the legal status.)”
“The Dream Act has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats since its introduction even as the two parties have been sharply divided over other aspects of immigration reform. But the bill has never been enacted—the closest it came was in December 2010, when it passed the House but fell 5 votes short in the Senate of the 60 needed to avert a filibuster,” Fouhy reports. “Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a GOP rising star, has indicated he will introduce some immigration reform measures that could include expedited legal status for young undocumented immigrants. But Rubio’s earlier proposal to legalize DREAMers did not include a path to citizenship, making it a nonstarter for most immigration rights activists. Powell Jobs said Rubio’s latest discussion of granting expedited status to young immigrants seemed ‘reasonable and principled,’ but that she wanted to learn more. ‘The key is to see the legislation once it’s written,’ she said.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Laurene Powell Jobs looks to create bipartisan support for DREAM Act immigration reform – December 18, 2012
Laurene Powell Jobs aligns against teachers unions; backs education reform, charter schools, vouchers – May 26, 2012
undocumented immigrants = illegal aliens
One sounds so nice, the other not so.
I find it interesting how language is used and abused by politicians and activists.
I see what you are getting at, but the article is about changing that law so it’s not illegal. Calling them undocumented immigrants makes and will continue to make sense even after the bill is passed.
Baloney. ILLEGAL ALIENS no matter the age. Boo hoo. Close the borders, deport illegals, prosecute politicians. Smitty’s three step plan to address the issue.
But oh well, the commies won. Liberty is dead. Deal with it.
We could have had this a long time ago, but the Rethugnicans blocked it.
There are quite a few other areas where reasonable actions cannot move forward because of CONservatives, who only remain in control of the House due to Gerrymandering after the 2010 census. Over 1,000,000 more people voted for Democrats for the House last November than Republicans, but the redrawn district boundaries were designed to dilute Democratic voters.
So much for will for the people, right?
You lie. Just like your false idol.
Here’s the truth:
Senate kills Bush immigration reform bill – Fri Jun 29, 2007
The U.S. Senate dealt a fatal blow on Thursday to President George W. Bush’s overhaul of immigration policy.
Only 33 Democrats, 12 Republicans and one independent voted to advance the bill, while 15 Democrats joined 37 Republicans and one independent to block it.
The bill was also opposed by some labor unions, which said its temporary worker program would have created an underclass of cheap laborers. Immigrant groups opposed measures in the bill that limited migration on the basis of family ties.
Full article via Reuters here.
More recently the problem was the Republicans. If Obama supports something they are instantly against it. The Bush era bill was not the Dream Act as it stands now.
No lies here & I didn’t vote for Obama. He’s a DINO (Democrat in Name Only). You would crap your pants if he were a real Democrat.
” but the Rethugnicans blocked it.”
Come on AP….. were you not listening when President Obama said stop ” treat name-calling as reasoned debate”. Did you not get the memo?
As for ‘creative’ district boundaries. The democrats would NEVER consider that.
LOL regarding both points.
I didn’t vote for President Obama and really do not care what he said.
As to redistricting, nobody has done a number the way the Rethugnicans have. If voter intent is the prime directive the Republicans of our day are public enemy number 1.
Once private property is no longer respected and the prime motivation behind voting is redistribution of wealth (ie. taking private property away from people and giving it to someone else), then I am absolutely no longer interested in “voter intent.”
Class warfare has turned a civilized society into a mob with pitch forks and torches. Democracy without first the principles of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (ie. Private Property), is tyranny of the majority, and nothing to be venerated or respected.
Partisan propaganda has turned you into a parroting, mindless, lemming.
See eminent domain, a favorite of the Bush era and his cronies. You want to know what is worse than taking a few bucks for the rich to care for the poor? Taking the poor mans house and property to build a fucking walmart. This is the redistribution the two party corporate owned crowd promotes.
If you think for a single second there is a real difference between Obama and the overt corporate boot licking republicans, you are delusional. Obama is a corporatist. Other than social issues Obama’s policies are right wing and a gift to business.
That you are incapable of seeing this truth and know fuck-all that isn’t TOLD to you by your party puppet masters is all we need to know about your political acumen.
Obama is a conservative with semi-liberal social views, plain and simple. Frankly I am starting to disbelieve him about those. Liberal, Barrack is not..
Let’s simplefy the name calling. You’re an idiot. Obama is a devout Marxist, and although I would argue he’s been out of that closet a while, he definitly came out Monday in his speech – “collective action.” I hope you live long enough to see the shit that he brings about. Americans live in la-la land, they think a Hitler/Lenin/Mao can’t rise in America. Get ready, ’cause here it comes.
What is it like to live with irrational fear and hatred?
Have you sought professional help?
You NEED it…
The redistribution is going on to corporations.
Do a little research and see how much corporate welfare is sought and handed out by every level of government in our country.
One of the latest scams is the refunding of collected income taxes to corporations. Not the company’s taxes collected- yours as an employee.
If you are not interested in voter intent you are a tyrant or a tool.
Will of the people? You need to go back to high school. We are a republic not a democracy.
Remember that the House is the only thing that is preventing a bunch of thugs from destroying this country.
Seems like the President & Senate are the only things restraining the Rethugnicans in the House who, BTW, polled 1.4 million fewer votes than Democrats last November by the latest numbers.
my Dream Act would have illegal aliens go through Ellis Island like everyone else had to.
Ellis Island isn’t big enough to handle the crowds…
There you go being logical. How dare you.
Think of all the positive things that she could do with her money and influence. Well, it’s not like it’s a surprise.
Not everyone went through Ellis Island.
My peeps were here when we won independence, for example. Others came through Angel Island in California. Hispanics in the SW many times were settled in Santa Fe (1610) and Taos (1615) long before an Anglo baked a turkey with the natives.
Others came by the middle passage against their will or free choice.
Just sayin’
Its amazing to see the utter ignorance.. Most of these people with rare exceptions are on welfare, and your all paying for them. Your paying for their healthcare. If Laurene wants to donate all her billions to support these people, which will last a few months, cool, otherwise wake up.
And you know these “facts” how? I’ve seen many many illegals earning cash working the fields of California, doing the dirty housecleaning and dishwashing work that no one else seems to want to do, and in many other positions at the bottom of the labor ladder. I know because I’ve talked with them. Whole families working the fields – the men doing the ground work with the women work on the harvesters sorting tomatoes and strawberries.
What I really hate to see, and I’ve seen enough of it over the past few years, is H1-B high tech workers from India and China bringing their parents and grandparents over, then signing them up for Social Security and Medicare as soon as they’ve put enough months on shore, people who haven’t paid a dime into either of these programs, people who are lucky enough to have a child who managed to win the H1-B lottery. You might ask how I know? I used to volunteer to drive the elderly and disabled to their SSA appointments so I had many chances to observe and listen while in the waiting room.
Don’t try to play the “ignorance” card here, there are many of us who know the games and can call you on them.
This is just not true. I worry that it will become true though. The Democratic Party needs to be watched very closely. These are people who come for opportunity and expect to work hard, for the most part. The party will turn them into victims though, promising free welfare, free health care and so on, making so that the incentive to develop is diminished. Also catering to the lunatic fringe of illegal immigration groups like “La Raza” on creates hostility.
Just the name “La Raza” which means “the race” indicates just how racist that thug organization is. Racism is alive and well in America and it’s called anti-whitism. The New Black Panthers, and La Raza are at the forefront of that.
You are ignorant, your bias is transparent. Whites EARNED a healthy amount of the distrust and venom they face.
Be a man, own it, our history (US Whites) is that of racist bullies. We support the continued apartheid in Israel and Palestine. Many Americans harbor racist views towards Muslims, and Arab’s in general. We imprisoned American Japanese in WW2. People like you propagate the lazy black welfare cheat as the norm, We stole this land from Native Americans, who we hunted, harassed and marooned into desert wastelands. We trafficked in slaves. Our policies and drug use are responsible for many of the deplorable states in central America. I mean it goes on and on. Add in the worldwide crimes of the British “Empire” and you get quite the laundry list of vile behaviors and views in history.
So face it buddy, we have it coming. We have a lot of trust to build and many wrongs to make up for. So next time you start crying about racism directed at whites, stop and think a minute and try looking at it from a historical perspective.
I am not condoning it, ignorance is ignorance, I am saying I understand where it comes from and am therefore not supprised.
Forget the merits of the Dream Act for a moment. I don’t care that Laurene was married to Steve Jobs. Her activities are of no interest to me and completely irrelevant on an Apple news site. As are news about his boats and homes. Hey, what’s Phil Schiiler’s wife up to tonight? Forgot. .. I don’t care about that either.
good point.
“Hey, what’s Phil Schiiler’s wife up to tonight?”…guess you don’t have to ask that about Tim Cook.
Let me guess you and your bigot buddies are going to beat up some homo’s tonight.
You Bigot Asshole..
keep guessin’.
Out of many- one
Thanks, AP.
Yup, the National Socialist Party has squeezed every possible vote out of the black population. At this point they’re just black zombies who will vote for the socialists no matter the situation. Given nothing more than lip service from the likes of Barack Obama and black face minstrel shows from Clinton and Biden, blacks will still march in lockstep to deliver votes to the socialists.
Eventually we will figure it out. Under Obama we’ve lost more wealth than at anytime in history, proportionately more than any demographic in the country, topped and remained at the top of the unemployment lines, seen our populations dwindle, and become ever more attached to the government tit, at the cost of what was once a strong family ethic.
So of course the socialists want to import a whole new set of victims to milk. Of course they want to make sure there is no check for voter identity. Of course they now throw their lip service to an America hostile voting block.
Even the most racist institution in the country can’t count on African-American Stockholm Syndrome to last forever. New slaves for the plantation are needed!
1. Below, I’m not talking about you or any other specific person.
2. I’m talking, in general, about U.S. blacks or African-Americans or whatever the Big Gov’t Handout Lib slaveowners are calling people of color in the U.S. currently.
3. When you, the black man or woman in general, voices your opinion to your elected Democrat representative, you are ignored. Completely.
4. You are ignored precisely because your vote is guaranteed.
5. Until you learn to take a step back and decide whether these government subsistence handouts are really helping you or not — based on decades of blind allegiance to Democrats and where your people are now vs. where they were, say, back when Jimmy Carter or Bubba Clinton were “helping” you — and vote accordingly, you will continue to be ignored.
6. If you were smart and the GOP were also smart, U.S. blacks would ask the GOP for something important to them and the GOP would move heaven and earth to deliver it. And then the world, especially your world, the U.S. black community, would change significantly for the better. It was the Republican party of Lincoln that freed the slaves, dear friend.
7. Keep voting in lockstep for those who ignore you and have not improved, only worsened your communities’ condition through gov’t dependency (disguised slavery), for the last 50+ years, and you will continue to suffer, your pleas and needs ignored.
8. If your votes are already cast in stone, there is zero need for anyone to work for you or your votes.
To be consistent with your pre-election handle, shouldn’t you be calling yourself “Not 2012, Maybe 2014”?
And with that, Thelonious, this site loses a reader. Bye folks.
Don’t let door… on further reflection, do.
What you might call “opportunity,” I call “subsistence existence” or “government slavery.”
How many generations of U.S. blacks need to be housed in government cages and fed the government cheese until they wake up and see that they are being used and that 95% adherence to one party completely disenfranchises them?
Hint for U.S. blacks: If you are guaranteed to vote for one party, you are taken for granted. Your views and needs do not need to be listened to, much less acted upon. The Democrats have used and abused you. You are their slaves.
If the Democrat party has been so good to U.S. blacks, why are more blacks unemployed, incarcerated, and dependent on the government than at any time since the Civil War?
Government dependency is not success. It is failure.
My wife is from Albania, speaks five foreign languages and has two advanced degrees. It took us, legally, almost two years to get her a green card. It bothers me, more than you will know, that some one who entered this country illegally is going to be rewarded for committing a felon.
Four years later we are trying to get her mother a visa so she can come visit and see where and how her daughter lives. The embassy in Albania, which charges hundreds of dollars for each attempt, finds different excuses on why she cannot visit. FOUR YEARS!!! Maybe we should fly her to Mexico, let her sneak illegally into the country and then wait until the dream act is passed.
No wonder this country is going down the toilet – how very screwed up!
Amen, I say, amen!
In 2014 you will all die and be relegated to the anals of history wherebyou belong. iCal that you pathetic ball pf hate and hurt.
Actually, people waiting for the dream act to pass might be better off staying illegal. They will probably get more benefits that US citizens anyways.
Some thoughtful comments posted here.
Laurene: What about the dreams of young, poor, underprivileged American citizen children? Are you just ignoring them? Don’t they matter? Seems as though this is more of a political move than a philanthropic one.