[AAACE-NLA] FW: Urgent Action: DREAM Act Coming to Senate Floor

[Wrigley, Heide]

Hi, everyone
You may not know that the Dream Act will come up for a vote in the Senate tomorrow (see http://dreamact.info/ and the New York Times Opinion piece http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/20/opinion/20mon2.html).  This is the Act that would provide a foot in the door toward Comprehensive Immigration Reform by offering thousands of young students who are undocumented but attended US schools for at least five years a path to permanent residence status and ultimately citizenship. The requirements in the current version are quite stringent (go to college or join the Army -more on that later) but it's a step in the right direction.
As part of a panel connected with the Consortium of Community Colleges on Immigrant Education, I just received the message below outlining practical steps on how to support this Legislation.  Although the message is geared towards community colleges, I'm hoping the information will encourage others to get involved and support this vital piece of legislation.

Best

Heide

Heide Spruck Wrigley
Literacywork International
Mesilla, NM

From: jcasnerlotto at optonline.net [mailto:jcasnerlotto at optonline.net]
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 8:39 AM
To: eharper at nvcc.edu; imendoza at sbctc.edu; dgifford at pima.edu; agreen27 at alamo.edu; KCHRISTIAN at aacc.nche.edu; pktaylor at bhcc.mass.edu; pkhumoetsile-taylor at bhcc.mass.edu; jhunt at lagcc.cuny.edu; GRivera at qcc.cuny.edu; fzaragoza at alamo.edu; kuriens at lagcc.cuny.edu; MMcHugh at MigrationPolicy.org; marge.glusker at sunywcc.edu; tedmartinez at riohondo.edu; jjpitts at jccc.edu; rramirez at pima.edu; mharriso at mdc.edu; Eduardo.marti at mail.cuny.edu; pfeltman at wes.org; luzelma at southtexascollege.edu; cguengerich at ccc.edu; Wrigley, Heide
Cc: Tere.wisell at sunywcc.edu; suzebrooks at aol.com; clowder at sbctc.edu; ileos at alamo.edu; vlaguna at pima.edu; bfonte at mdc.edu; jwerderits at ccc.edu
Subject: Urgent Action: DREAM Act Coming to Senate Floor
Importance: High

Dear BRP Members,

Many of you have heard that the DREAM Act may be coming up for a vote in the Senate this week.  Senator Harry Reid will introduce the Dream Act, as an amendment to a defense bill, tomorrow Tuesday (9/21).  If the DREAM Act doesn't pass at this time, it may not happen this year! For undocumented immigrant students, this is the chance of a lifetime.

The Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education is joining with a number of other organizations and coalitions in support of this important vote, including the American Association of Community Colleges, American Council of Education, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, America's Voice, and Reform Immigration For America. Please see our attached letter to the U.S. Senate and feel free to build upon it or use portions of it in composing your own letters or faxes to your district representatives.

In order for this vote to pass, there needs to be enough Senators on board, both Republican and Democrat. According to some advocacy groups, the vote is within reach, but there are several senators still on the fence.

Your colleges may have already taken action to support this important vote, but if not, here are some quick links that will connect you with national campaigns taking action and enable you to easily call or fax your Senators:

HACU-- www.actonthedream.org<http://www.actonthedream.org>

Reform Immigration for Americahttp://reformimmigrationforamerica.org<http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/>

America's Voice http://americasvoiceonline.org/page/content/dare2dream


The New York Immigration Coalition reports that its pro-immigrant calls are matching the anti-immigrant calls.  But the anti-immigrant lobby is pushing hard to defeat this amendment. The NY Coalition has identified the key Republican and Democratic Senators whose votes they believe are critical to getting to the 60 votes for passage.

They include:

Republicans:
Sen. Hatch of Utah
Sen. Bunning of Kentucky
Sen. Bennet of Utah
Sen. Gregg of New Hampshire
Sen. Bailey-Hutchison of Texas
Sen. McCain of Arizona
Sen. Voinovich of Ohio
Sen. Snowe of Maine
Sen. Brown of Massachusetts
Sen. Collins of Maine
Sen. LeMeiux of Florida
Sen. Brownback of Kansas

Democrats:
Sen. Hagan of North Carolina
Sen. Pryor of Arkansas
Sen. Landrieu of Louisiana
Sen. Conrad of North Dakota
Sen. Dorgan of North Dakota
Sen. Nelson of Nebraska
Sen. Baucus of Montana
Sen. Tester of Montana
Sen. Feinstein of California

The Coalition has provided the following script for phone calls to these Senators:

 "Hi I am calling to ask that Senator _______ vote for the DREAM Act. This bill will allow for undocumented youth to fix their status by continuing their education or serving this country in the armed services in addition to allowing for them to return the investment our country has made in them. Please have the member support the Dream Act."

Please pass this information along to your colleagues, student clubs, and other members of your community and urge them to call today. We hope this will help mobilize action on your campuses and in your communities!

Sincerely,
Tere and Jill


Jill Casner-Lotto
Director, Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education
Westchester Community College
Valhalla, NY 10595
ph: 914-576-6128
Jill.Casnerlotto at sunywcc.edu
www.cccie.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20100920/bc1a11cc/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: CCCIE_Senate_DREAM Act_ 9_2010_letter.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 625664 bytes
Desc: CCCIE_Senate_DREAM Act_ 9_2010_letter.doc
URL: <http://lists.literacytent.org/pipermail/aaace-nla/attachments/20100920/bc1a11cc/attachment-0001.doc>