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New DREAM Act Introduced in Senate

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Via Rachel Labruyere at Reform Immigration For America:

Last night, in an effort to garner bipartisan support – and get this thing passed – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a new version of the DREAM Act bill. The new version makes compromises in response to the complaints many (mostly Republican) Senators had about the original bill. I’ll be frank: the compromises make me wince. But, from what I’m hearing from those fighting to get this passed, they aren’t deal-breakers. And this is our best shot to get the much-needed Republican votes in order to make the DREAM Act a reality. Here’s a quick summary of the most notable changes:

  • The old bill created a 6 year waiting period where people would have “non-immigrant” status. The new bill’s waiting period is 10 years, followed by 3 years of Legal Permanent Residence status before applying to be naturalized.

  • The new bill bars DREAMers from healthcare subsidies under the new exchange from our recent healthcare reform. This bar will last during all of the 10 years of conditional “non-immigrant” status.

  • The old bill’s age cap was 35 and the new bill’s age cap is 30.

AILA has more on the specific changes here.