Harry Reid Unveils New Amnesty Strategy, Adds It To Defense Bill To Force Republicans To Vote For It

Sep 14, 2010 22 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

Washington (CNN) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he will add the DREAM Act, a controversial immigration measure, to a defense policy bill the Senate will take up next week.

The decision means the defense bill, which often passes with bipartisan support, will be home to two major, thorny political issues – the other being the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Reid called the DREAM Act “really important” and said it should be passed because it provides a path to citizenship for young illegal immigrants who go to college or serve in the military. DREAM is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act.

“I know we can’t do comprehensive immigration reform,” Reid said at a news conference. “But those Republicans we had in the last Congress have left us.”

Many Hispanic voters are angry with Democratic leaders for not doing more to pass an immigration overhaul. The decision by Reid to add the DREAM Act now could help soothe that anger.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called Reid’s decision “needlessly controversial.”
The Senate will need 60 votes to take up the bill next week, and Reid said Tuesday he doesn’t know if he has enough votes.

Politico:

In a strategy shift on immigration reform, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Tuesday that Democrats will try to pass a bill legalizing the status of certain undocumented immigrants if they attend college for two years or join the military.

Reid will offer the DREAM Act as an amendment next week to the Defense Department authorization bill, thrusting the thorny, contentious issue of immigration reform back into the spotlight as Democrats struggle to blunt a Republican surge ahead of the November midterm elections.

“I think it is really important that we move forward on this legislation,” Reid said. “I know we can’t do comprehensive immigration reform. I’ve tried to, I’ve tried so very, very hard. I’ve tried different iterations of this, but those Republicans we had in the last Congress left us.”

The DREAM Act provides a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants if they were in the United States before age 16 and have been resident for five years before enactment of the law. Reid could not say whether he has 60 votes to overcome a filibuster but added, “I sure hope so.”

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Democrats would make the defense authorization bill “needlessly controversial” if they added the DREAM Act. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), a Republican co-sponsor, has not yet indicated whether he supports adding the DREAM Act as an amendment to the defense bill, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the political calculation is clear: Democrats want to energize Hispanic voters, who have soured on President Barack Obama for failing to deliver on a campaign promise to produce an immigration reform bill during his first year in office. Reid has also wagered heavily on Hispanics turning out for him in his tough reelection fight against Sharron Angle, the Tea Party-backed Republican challenger.

At the same time, however, making the DREAM act a priority would boost immigration to the top of the agenda, at a time when voters want something done about the shaky economy. The tough new Arizona law intended to stop illegal immigration by forcing suspects to show proof of legal residency — and the Obama administration’s decision to block it in court — has become a rallying cry for voters disenchanted with the direction of the country.

In an interview last week, Obama told the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion that he supports the DREAM Act, and would take his cue from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on whether it should move separately from a comprehensive immigration reform bill. But he raised concerns that would imperil the broader strategy of a more sweeping overhaul.

“I just don’t want anybody to think that if we somehow just do the DREAM Act, that that solves the problem,” Obama said. “We’ve got a bigger problem that we have to solve. We still need comprehensive immigration reform. The DREAM Act can be an important part of that, and, as I said, I’m a big supporter of that. But I also want to make sure that we don’t somehow give up on the bigger strategy.”

Supporters of the bill say young people who came here as children with their parents should be allowed to contribute to the only country they have known by attending college or joining the military. But opponents say the proposal is a back-door amnesty program that creates an incentive for more families to cross the border illegally.

In an interview last week, Obama told the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion that he supports the DREAM Act, and would take his cue from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on whether it should move separately from a comprehensive immigration reform bill. But he raised concerns that would imperil the broader strategy of a more sweeping overhaul.

“I just don’t want anybody to think that if we somehow just do the DREAM Act, that that solves the problem,” Obama said. “We’ve got a bigger problem that we have to solve. We still need comprehensive immigration reform. The DREAM Act can be an important part of that, and, as I said, I’m a big supporter of that. But I also want to make sure that we don’t somehow give up on the bigger strategy.”

Supporters of the bill say young people who were children when their parents entered the U.S. illegally should be allowed to contribute to the only country they have known by attending college or joining the military. “Kids who grew up as Americans should be able to get their green card to go to college or serve in the military,” Reid said.

But opponents say the proposal is a back-door amnesty program that could entice more families to cross the border illegally.

There has been division within the Hispanic advocacy community over whether it made strategic sense to push the DREAM Act apart from a larger immigration overhaul. The proposal has drawn Republican support before, and could attract more GOP lawmakers to support larger reforms.

But the prospects for immigration reform have become increasingly bleak in recent months, leading advocates to lobby Democrats hard to pass the DREAM Act as a “down payment” on more expansive changes. The proposal had long been part of the immigration reform bill, which stalled in Congress and faces an uncertain fate after the midterm elections.

“It is time to pass this important stepping stone to comprehensive immigration reform and we commend Senator Reid for bringing this forward for a vote,” Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, said in a statement.

POLITICO reported Tuesday that advocates for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country could see as many as 17 seats change hands in the November election, from senators who want a pathway to citizenship to those favoring a get-tough, law-and-order approach. In all cases, the Republicans running for those seats have vowed to fight any legalization program, at least until the U.S.-Mexico border has been certified secure.