Pirate's Cove

The normal process for applying for citizenship is pretty burdensome, and requires that people have good moral character, ie, do not commit crimes. Certain crimes will immediately knock a candidate out, no matter how long they’ve resided in the U.S. Other crimes will most likely knock them out. What about with the Dream Act? Byron York delves in

Commentary on the DACA controversy frequently notes that the nation’s nearly 700,000 so-called Dreamers are a law-abiding group. But a new bill to give DACA recipients full legal status, sponsored by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake and Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin and Chuck Schumer, would allow newly legalized Dreamers to have many run-ins with the law — arrests, charges, convictions — and still receive benefits. Schumer, the Democratic leader, is demanding quick passage.

(Discussion of the leniency via Obama’s DACA Executive Order for crimes committed by Dreamers)

The Dream Act would exclude anyone who has been convicted of “any offense under federal or state law, other than a state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status, that is punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of more than one year; or three or more offenses under federal or state law, other than state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status, for which the alien was convicted on different dates for each of the three offenses and imprisoned for an aggregate of 90 days or more.”

The phrase “other than a state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status” could excuse a lot of criminal activity. “It would grant status to illegal aliens who have been convicted of felony ID fraud or other crimes that could be considered to be related to their immigration status,” noted Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tighter restrictions on immigration. “You could say human smuggling, document fraud, benefits fraud, false claims to citizenship, illegal voting, and many other felonies have an essential element that involves immigration status.”

Furthermore, the multiple dates issue would mean that an illegal wouldn’t be knocked out of Dreamer status by being prosecuted for multiple misdemeanors on the same court date, only if they were prosecuted on at least three different court dates.

And maybe not even then, because Graham, Flake, Durbin, and Schumer would also allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to waive any denial of legalization for those crimes, or for more serious crimes, “for humanitarian purposes or family unity or if the waiver is otherwise in the public interest.” In other words, Department of Homeland Security can legalize whomever it chooses.

Which would probably not happen under current DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, but, could easily be done under future squishy DHS Secretaries.

The 2017 Dream Act also raises the age of when the illegals came from 16 to 18, which would vastly increase the number who are eligible, as well as decreasing the time in country from 5 years to 4 years.

There is no requirement for the illegals to be present in the U.S. at the time the Dream Act is passed, unlike with Obama’s DACA, which required they be present prior to June 15, 2012. This would mean there is every reason for illegals to keep streaming in at young ages.

Crossed at Right Wing News.