Posted on December 29, 2010

In Time, Opponents Will Pay for Rejecting DREAM Act

Alvaro Huerta, Press of Atlantic City (Pleasantville, NJ), December 29, 2010

Republicans managed to defeat the DREAM Act, but it’s a victory that will haunt them.

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The Republican Party once again demonstrated its disdain toward one of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups in this country: undocumented immigrants.

And let’s not forget the Democrats who voted against it. This group included Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Jon Tester of Montana.

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I had several reservations with this bill, but not the same ones that the senators voting no had.

I didn’t like the word “Alien” in the title; no human being is an alien.

I didn’t like the fact that it would have induced young brown people to risk their lives in unjust wars like the one President George W. Bush waged in Iraq.

And I didn’t like the fact that it gave special treatment to those who attend college. An immigrant kid who doesn’t go to college still contributes to our society, after all.

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At the end of the day, while this is a short-term loss for Latinos in this country, in the long term, the Republicans and those conservative Democrats will pay a big price at the ballot box.

The browning of America is a reality that an aging white population needs to come to terms with. {snip}

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