Sognare per legge: il Dream Act

Ancora sull'Arizona, visto che la legge sull'immigrazione approvata da questo Stato americano sta offrendo molti spunti di dibattito sul tema dell'immigrazione negli Stati Uniti. In particolare, segnalo un articolo di Marjorie Valbrun apparso oggi sul Washington Post ("Amid Arizona immigration protests, a new generation dreams of the Dream Act"). Valbrun è una giornalista, ma anche una dirigente di America's Voice, un'advocacy group sull'immigrazione con base nella capitale americana. Interessante l'intervento per il fatto che descrive un nuovo gruppo di oppositori della legge restrittiva approvata in Arizona, quello formato da giovani laureati ancora clandestini, arrivati da minorenni nel Paese insieme ai genitori. Sarebbero 1,5 milioni su un totale di 11 milioni di clandestini americani, e chiedono una legge ad hoc per loro: il "Dream Act".

[...] Like the rest of the crowd, they came to protest Arizona's controversial new immigration enforcement law, but they also sought recognition of a long-sought goal -- passage of the Dream Act, federal legislation that would provide a path toward legal status for people like them, undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country as children by their parents.

[...] It's something their parents, for the most part, would never thinkof doing. But as this group of mostly 20-somethings sees it, they are American in every way -- except on paper. They have lived in the United States for at least 10 years. They speak perfect English and attended grade schools and universities here. They have American friends, American lifestyles and typical American sensibilities. And what's more American than speaking out?

[...] They support comprehensive reform that would provide a path to legalization for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country, but they want separate legislation -- "a down payment" for the roughly 1.5 million people who would be eligible for the Dream Act -- passed in the interim.

[...] The legislation has languished in Congress for nearly a decade, despite lobbying by the students and immigrant advocacy organizations. If passed, it would permit certain undocumented students to become permanent legal residents if they came to this country before age 16 and attend college or enlist in the military.