Can Dream ACt Help Asylees?

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wantmygcnow

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The Dream Act that is pending in congress right now..Literally it means any students can adjust status without any quotas. Can it help asylees? Here is an excerpt

The DREAM Act would also expand eligibility for relief known as Cancellation of Removal and Adjustment of Status. Eligibility is limited to a particular group of younger students and a particular group of college students or recent graduates. The first eligible group is foreign nationals who are at least 12 but under 21 years of age at the time the law is enacted (when and if that occurs). The students would have to meet the following additional requirements: high school diploma or the equivalent, physical presence in the U.S. for at least five years preceding the enactment of the law, and good moral character. The other eligible group is college students or graduates who would have
met the requirements at any time during the 4-year period immediately preceding the date of enactment.


I am a recent college Graduate(BS in Engineering)..and asylee status..Wouldnt this law mean I can apply since I have been here since 1995??
 
It depends on the specific language of the law if one is passed.

But you must meet ALL the requirements of the that law. Are you sure you meet the age requirment??????

This bill is still in the subcommittee stage and you should not get too excited yet.
 
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As info, last Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee tried to consider this bill. But Senator Hatch was blocked by his fellow Republicans and had to withdraw the measure temporarily.
 
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I think what this bill proposes is ridiculous. Most foreign national undergrad students or graduates are over 21yrs of age, so not a lot of people are gonna benefit from this bill. And at the time most states are facing crisis with balancing their higher education budgets and national unemployment rate at record high I think there will be a strong opposition to this bill. Also mind that a lot of immigration related bills are forgotten even after they're discussed on the Congressional floor. The Bill sponsored by Shiela Jackson Lee that proposes the removal of asylee adjustment caps also reached to the Senate floor 2-3 yrs back and the subcommittee even held hearings, but it was never mentioned again after that. I also understand that the DREAM act also covers foreign nationals serving in the US military. This proposal is pointless because there is already a law that allows non-us citizen servicemen on active duty to file for naturalization.

Shed me some light over here guys, but I fail to see what this Bill is really trying to change and who it is trying to help and how it serves the national interest.
 
I just read through this bill in its entirety. This bill is to help undocumented children in this country and to enable them to have a better future.

If passed AT ITS CUURENT FORM it will give an INSTANT CONDITIONAL green card to undocumented children who entered this country before they were 16 AND who have been here for five years as of the date the President signs the bill into law. This conditional status allows the kid to enroll in college or enlist in the military.

The child will have to file another application with the CIS to remove the condition on her green card after she obtains a college degree or serves in the armed forces. If she fails to do either, her green card is revoked.

The bill enjoys good prospects of passage--at least better than the asylee cap bills. It has already cleared the immigration subcommittee and the judiciary committee. It is on its way to the full Senate. The asylee bills have not even been touched yet.

The bill is sponsored by a prominent Republican, which surely makes the difference. 40 of the 100 Senators already said that they are for it. I understand that it also has the private support of the First Lady, a former public school teacher.
 
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Thanks for your explanations Gilbert. I think this bill serves the national interest in the sense that it hopes to get more recruits in the US military without introducing the general draft. And most of these illegal kids will go into the military because higher education is expensive in this country.

I can also understand that this Bill hopes to help the children of undocumented immigrants, but at the same time it makes a mockery of the legal immigration system.
 
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I don't think this bill will directly help the asylees with their GC process since you have to be atleast 21yrs (or is it 18?) of age to apply for asylum. And under the DREAM act conditions you can't be older than 21 on the date President signs the Bill , if I'm not mistaken.

But I think derivitive asylee children who meet the DREAM act criteria will benefit from this and might even get their GC (eventhough their GC will be conditional) before their parents.

While I was reading the SPC. Jose Gutierrez story (the Guatamalan immigrant who joined the marines and KIA in Iraq) I found out that the INS agents didn't deport him when they caught him illegally crossing the Mex-Cali border because he told them he's 16yrs old. Were the INS agents acting accordingly to the law or they acted with compassion (unlikely)?

Also, like Gilbert mentioned in the story about the guy in Seattle who joined the Army with a fake GC it's very possible to cheat the system. Most military recruiters are not trained BCIS agents and they don't know what features to look for to authenticate a GC. So as long as you have a valid SS# that wont have problems with the Internal Revenue Service when the Army tries to deposit your pay checks or file tax returns one can get away with that. But if u lied to the US military you better hope that they wont prosecute you becuase even a native born citizens who lie on the enlistment form get stripped of their basic privileges like the right to vote, social security benefits, and so on. Oh and not to mention the prison sentence that can last upto 10 years.

Also I am curious what happens when an illegal immigrant serving in the military tries to apply for N400 with the CIS. Can the CIS deny is application based on the reason that he has committed immigration fraud? The Executive Order concerning the naturalization of foreign nationals serving in the US military doesn't talk about those details.
 
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Originally posted by JackIsBack
I don't think this bill will directly help the asylees with their GC process since you have to be atleast 21yrs (or is it 18?) of age to apply for asylum. And under the DREAM act conditions you can't be older than 21 on the date President signs the Bill , if I'm not mistaken.

But I think derivitive asylee children who meet the DREAM act criteria will benefit from this and might even get their GC (eventhough their GC will be conditional) before their parents.

While I was reading the SPC. Jose Gutierrez story (the Guatamalan immigrant who joined the marines and KIA in Iraq) I found out that the INS agents didn't deport him when they caught him illegally crossing the Mex-Cali border because he told them he's 16yrs old. Were the INS agents acting accordingly to the law or they acted with compassion (unlikely)?

Also, like Gilbert mentioned in the story about the guy in Seattle who joined the Army with a fake GC it's very possible to cheat the system. Most military recruiters are not trained BCIS agents and they don't know what features to look for to authenticate a GC. So as long as you have a valid SS# that wont have problems with the Internal Revenue Service when the Army tries to deposit your pay checks or file tax returns one can get away with that. But if u lied to the US military you better hope that they wont prosecute you becuase even a native born citizens who lie on the enlistment form get stripped of their basic privileges like the right to vote, social security benefits, and so on. Oh and not to mention the prison sentence that can last upto 10 years.

Also I am curious what happens when an illegal immigrant serving in the military tries to apply for N400 with the CIS. Can the CIS deny is application based on the reason that he has committed immigration fraud? The Executive Order concerning the naturalization of foreign nationals serving in the US military doesn't talk about those details.
Click to expand...

The only age restriction in the bill is that you entered before 16. Whether you are over 21 now is not relevant, in my reading.

However another requirement of the proposed law is that the applicant MUST BE ILLEGAL in the United States. Since asylum is very much a legal status, asylees will probably be excluded from the DREAM Act. The possible exceptions are asylees who had sneaked into the country or those who used fraudulent documents to enter. This issue would have to be resolved by CIS lawyers.
 
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Jose Gutierrez was considered an orphan by the CIS and the immigration law allows orphans under certain circumstances to become LPRs.
 
Originally posted by JackIsBack


Also, like Gilbert mentioned in the story about the guy in Seattle who joined the Army with a fake GC it's very possible to cheat the system. Most military recruiters are not trained BCIS agents and they don't know what features to look for to authenticate a GC. So as long as you have a valid SS# that wont have problems with the Internal Revenue Service when the Army tries to deposit your pay checks or file tax returns one can get away with that. But if u lied to the US military you better hope that they wont prosecute you becuase even a native born citizens who lie on the enlistment form get stripped of their basic privileges like the right to vote, social security benefits, and so on. Oh and not to mention the prison sentence that can last upto 10 years.

Also I am curious what happens when an illegal immigrant serving in the military tries to apply for N400 with the CIS. Can the CIS deny is application based on the reason that he has committed immigration fraud? The Executive Order concerning the naturalization of foreign nationals serving in the US military doesn't talk about those details.
Click to expand...


Lying to the military is a felony which could result in dismissal and/or a prison sentence.

In the Seattle case that you referred to, Pentagon higher-ups have decided not to take any action against the guy.

The law under which the executive order was issued does not take immigration status into account. His N400 probably will not be denied on the basis of the enlistment lie, since his deception is balanced out by service in the armed forces.
 
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How would the CIS know when and at what age an illegal immigrant entered the US, since they were never documented? Would they have to rely on witness (often religious institutions, clergymen etc) testimonies and such circumstancial evidences?
 
Thanks for all your answers. And in my opinion, under normal circumstances the military tends to have a lassie-faire policy on immigrants in the military unless there's suspicion that that person is involved in espionage or some other activity that threatens US national security. The military wont sponsor immigrants (legal or not) for GC or citizenship for joining, they leave that to the legislative and executive branches of the government for whatever policies they want to make in the national interest.
 
Originally posted by JackIsBack
Thanks for your explanations Gilbert. I think this bill serves the national interest in the sense that it hopes to get more recruits in the US military without introducing the general draft. And most of these illegal kids will go into the military because higher education is expensive in this country.

I can also understand that this Bill hopes to help the children of undocumented immigrants, but at the same time it makes a mockery of the legal immigration system.
Click to expand...

Those kids are here stay, since it is unlikely that we would ever institute a huge deportation program.

So it is humanitarian to help them build a better future. Some of these people will eventually make signifiant contributions to their adopted country.

It is a win-win situation.
 
Originally posted by JackIsBack
Thanks for all your answers. And in my opinion, under normal circumstances the military tends to have a lassie-faire policy on immigrants in the military unless there's suspicion that that person is involved in espionage or some other activity that threatens US national security. The military wont sponsor immigrants (legal or not) for GC or citizenship for joining, they leave that to the legislative and executive branches of the government for whatever policies they want to make in the national interest.
Click to expand...

Serving in the armed forces has always been considered a very positive factor for INS purposes--rightly so.
 
However another requirement of the proposed law is that the applicant MUST BE ILLEGAL in the United States. Since asylum is very much a legal status, asylees will probably be excluded from the DREAM Act. The possible exceptions are asylees who had sneaked into the country or those who used fraudulent documents to enter. This issue would have to be resolved by CIS lawyers. [/B]
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Just one more question Gilbert and sorry for a chain of questions. But let's say in the case of a kid who entered the US legally when he was 15 as a high school exchange student. He attends a US university on student visa and graduates at the age of 21+ and continues to stay in the US after his student visa expires and now becomes a visa overstayer (out of status). Would the DREAM act help such individual?
 
That person is now illegal in the US and I believe the DREAM Act will apply if he meets other requirements.

The bill has a long way to go before becoming law. Congress could change the language of the bill before then and the answer to your question might then be different.
 
Another group that could benefit from the DREAM act are international exchange students who came to this country to attend high schools when they were 15, 16, etc. At the end of their exchange program they might intentionally overstay their visas to be eligible for GC.
 
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