Yes, the Dream Act needs to be voted on before the end of the year, while Harry still remembers who kept him in office. Also, yesterday Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post scapegoated The Dream Act for the failure of DADT to pass. Of course, that’s nuts, but people should be aware that some might want to postpone it for that reason.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/11/harry_reid_get_dont_ask_dont_t.html

We all know it isn’t passing. It looks like the House is going to bring it up first, which is good. It will probally pass there. Then, in the Senate, Reid still needs to get 4 votes to change who originally voted against it, plus 1 because Roland Burris will be gone by the end of the month and replaced by Mark Kirk who came out and said he opposes it. So I don’t see 5 votes changing.

I think people should lobby Kirk, Hatch and other Republicans anyway. You never know, they might flip.

Observing the current political terrain,especially after the GOP shellacking of the Democrats last week,it appears to me the likeliness of passing the Dream Act is highly improbable.

Too little-too late,Immigration reform and the Dream Act was never seriously pushed in earnest by the Democrats in the same way they went for Obamacare.It was tossed around like a hot potato to be used for primarily for political opportunism, positioning to contending constituencies.

The bitter experiences of Latinos at the hands of treacheorous Democrats and a hostile GOP should serve as a “wake-up call”- a lesson-of how the american poltical system operates in the real world.

I think the traditional means of bringing about immigration reform by working within the arena of mainstream politics,the two-party system, is gradually exhausting itself as the only way of change.
More and more Latinos are beginning to realize that placing all their hope on such a system results in futility and resembles more of a trap.

I have a feeling that once this message is received loud and clear Latinos will consider other means such as civil disobedience and massive protest and resistance.

I can envision courageous Latinos,and other people as well becoming “padrinos” “sponsors” who refusing and resisting the unjust laws and policies of deportation will aid and protect undocumented workers,helping them keep their lives here in the USA.

This would be tantamount to civil disobedience,and I have a strong feeling this is what it will eventually come down to.
Just a thought..

Karen, your argument continues to be ridiculously offensive. All Latinos include the undocumented and that is what VivirLatino is all about.

Um that would be be FUTURE. Sorry. I hit send too soon

No it isn’t, and you know it. I have said in the past that I favor CIR and the Dream Act. I can see the Dream Act passing, but because of the bad economy, I can’t see CIR passing anytime soon, if ever.

My concern is that the GOP will take power and implement SB1070 nationally. Remember, the Justice Department is only arguing against SB1070 on the grounds that it usurps the role of the federal government in enforcing immigratuin law. That leaves the stage open for the federal government to implement it. Also, what if the Republicans eliminate the 14th Amendment? Then we’ll have a class of stateless people who are not citizens of this country or any country. Then they and their offspring can be cheap labor forever. And the rest of us who are citizens will be forced to carry passports in our own country, always under suspicion, always at risk of detention. Wake up because that’s where all of this is headed until somebody gets this issue under control.

Maybe this is catastrophizing, but Obama is weak President, and many of these lost jobs are never coming back, both of which would set the stage for a GOP win in 2012.

this idea that undocumented people are regrettably-but-necessarily expendable in the documented’s struggle, that the documented have to leave them behind to scrape together some safety and liberation for themselves…just reinforces everyone’s subjugation. the whole problem is people with fewer rights than others getting squashed, reproducing that dynamic is just handing off the oppression instead of resisting it…

My mom’s side of the family is Greek, and my great-grandfather I know in particular was living in the middle of a war zone and came to the US as a teenager to escape a bad situation. I don’t blame them and say why didn’t they stay there and try to solve the problem in their own country. Just like many Latino immigrants today help the places they are originally from, my great-grandfather sent money back to areas in Greece that needed it – when he left it was one war he was escaping with the Turkish/Ottoman Empire – but 40 years later there was another – WWII – and he helped his family members over there into college so that they got out of the the requirement to fight and sent supplies to those who were in the military. Italy tried to take over allowing the axis forces in and the Greeks said “OXI,” No!, and they still celebrate Oxi day today. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohi_Day If it wasn’t for the Greeks in other countries supporting their friends and family back home in their goals, WWII could’ve looked very different. I don’t think being an immigrant who is trying to become a part of their new American community means that they forget the one they came from and don’t try to make it better, too. Certainly the Latino immigrants I have met have family back in their birth countries that they care about and support and keep up with what is going on over there.