Monday, October 25, 2010

[IWS] CRS: UNAUTHORIZED ALIEN STUDENTS: ISSUES & "DREAM ACT" LEGISLATION [22 September 2010]

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor----------------------
Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

 

Congressional Research Service (CRS)

 

 

Unauthorized Alien Students: Issues and “DREAM Act” Legislation

Andorra Bruno, Specialist in Immigration Policy

September 22, 2010

http://opencrs.com/document/RL33863/2010-09-22/download/1013/

[full-text, 16 pages]

 

Summary

Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform have urged the President and Congress to

pursue reform legislation. While legislative action on comprehensive reform does not appear

likely during the remainder of the 111th Congress, there may be an effort to enact a measure,

commonly referred to as the “DREAM Act,” to enable certain unauthorized alien students to

legalize their status.

 

Unauthorized aliens in the United States are able to receive free public education through high

school. They may experience difficulty obtaining higher education, however, for several reasons.

Among these reasons is a provision enacted in 1996 that prohibits states from granting

unauthorized aliens certain postsecondary educational benefits on the basis of state residence,

unless equal benefits are made available to all U.S. citizens. This prohibition is commonly

understood to apply to the granting of “in-state” residency status for tuition purposes.

Unauthorized alien students also are not eligible for federal student financial aid. More broadly,

as unauthorized aliens, they are not legally allowed to work and are subject to being removed

from the country.

 

Multiple bills have been introduced in recent Congresses to address the unauthorized student

population. Most have proposed a two-prong approach of repealing the 1996 provision and

enabling some unauthorized alien students to become U.S. legal permanent residents (LPRs)

through an immigration procedure known as cancellation of removal. Bills proposing this type of

relief for unauthorized students are commonly referred to as the DREAM Act. While there are

other options for dealing with this population, this report deals exclusively with the DREAM Act

approach in light of the widespread congressional interest in it.

 

Two similar stand-alone DREAM Act bills have been introduced in the 111th Congress (S. 729

and H.R. 1751). Like most DREAM Act bills introduced in prior Congresses, these measures

would repeal the 1996 provision and enable eligible unauthorized students to adjust to LPR status

through a two-stage process. Aliens granted cancellation of removal under the bills would be

adjusted initially to conditional permanent resident status. To have the condition removed and

become full-fledged LPRs, the aliens would need to meet additional requirements.

 

This report will be updated as legislative developments occur.

 

Contents

Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1

Estimates of Potential DREAM Act Beneficiaries........................................................................1

Higher Education Benefits and Immigration Status......................................................................3

1996 Provision...........................................................................................................................3

Action in the 111th Congress........................................................................................................4

S. 729 ..................................................................................................................................4

H.R. 1751 .............................................................................................................................5

Pro/Con Arguments.....................................................................................................................6

Appendixes

Appendix. Action in the 109th and 110th Congresses.....................................................................8

Contacts

Author Contact Information ......................................................................................................13



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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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