[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 107 (Tuesday, July 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H5725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PASS THE DREAM ACT

  (Mr. POLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, there are hundreds of thousands of children 
in our country, cheerleaders on a high school cheerleading squad, 
members of the high school football team, students who work hard and 
play by the rules, get ready for college, and yet they are unable to 
ever enter the workforce legally or go to college. Why? Because their 
parents violated the law and brought them here when they were 1 or 2 or 
3 years old.
  The DREAM Act will address and help these hundreds of thousands of de 
facto Americans who in most cases don't even have a memory of another 
country, and frequently don't even speak any other language other than 
English fluently.
  Regardless of where one is on the larger issue of immigration reform, 
surely we should not visit the sins of the parents upon the children. 
In no other area of law do we do this, nor should we with regard to 
immigration.
  The bipartisan DREAM Act would recognize the hundreds of thousands of 
de facto Americans as actual Americans. It catches up with where people 
already are and helps our Nation be able to benefit from the hard work 
and study of these wonderful Americans. I call upon my colleagues to 
pass the DREAM Act.

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