FAIR Debates DREAM Act at Widener Law



On October 12, I participated in a panel discussion at the Widener Law School, sponsored by the Latin American Law Student Association (LALSA). LALSA endorses the DREAM Act, and I was on a panel with three others persons who argued in support of the legislation. I knew going in that FAIR was extended an invitation to “offer the other side of the argument,” but it was a well-organized event that was a serious attempt to deal with a serious issue. There were some in the audience who totally rejected my arguments in opposition to the DREAM Act, and some even expressed hostility towards me personally. But my hosts and co-panelists, one of whom was a self-professed “DREAMER” – a young man who stands to benefit if the DREAM Act passes, or who could face deportation if it does not – were respectful to me and sincere in their arguments. I strongly disagreed with their position, and they with mine, but we did agree on several points; most pointedly in condemning the political games that politicians in D.C. are playing with the DREAM Act.

I appreciate LALSA giving FAIR the opportunity to make our case at their event. It is easy to win an argument against an imagined opponent, but the real challenge is to make a compelling argument in the face of tough, critical, face-to-face resistance. There were several members of the audience who came up to me after the panel and thanked me for presenting my views. They told me they were still undecided, but that what I had said made them think more deeply about the DREAM Act, its provisions and its consequences for U.S. immigration policy. For me, that was very gratifying. Part of FAIR’s mission is public education, trying to cut through the rhetoric and misinformation that characterizes much of the “debate” about immigration policy. What I hope at least some learned last week was that opposition to the DREAM Act is not a personal attack on those who entered the United States illegally as youths; it is a fight against a terrible piece of legislation. The more people learn about the DREAM Act, the more they are likely to understand this.

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9 Comments

  1. avatar

    ANCHOR BABIES – How Mexico Expands the LA RAZA OCCUPATION & welfare state in our borders

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/10/anchor-babies-how-mexico-anchors-their.html

    WE HAVE LONG BEEN MEXICO’S WELFARE, BIRTHING CENTER, JOBS & JAILS SYSTEMS!

    ONE WAY MEXICO EXPANDS THEIR OCCUPATION IS BREEDING ANCHORS AT GRINGO EXPENSE. THESE CHILDREN WILL BE TAUGHT MEX RACISM, A LOATHING FOR LITERACY, ENGLISH, AND THE AMERICAN CULTURE. LA RAZA “THE RACE” ISN’T AMERICAN, IT IS MEXICAN FASCISM!

    STOP THE SPREAD OF MEXICAN SUPREMACY — STOP HANDING AMERICA TO ILLEGALS!

    “Remember 187 — the Proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to
    non-citizens — was the last gasp of white America in California.”
    —Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party
    Anchor Baby Power
    La Voz de Aztlan has produced a video in honor of the millions of babies that have been born as US citizens to Mexican undocumented parents. These babies are destined to transform America. The nativist CNN reporter Lou Dobbs estimates that there are over 200,000 “Anchor Babies” born every year whereas George Putnam, a radio reporter, says the figure is closer to 300,000. La Voz de Aztlan believes that the number is approximately 500,000 “Anchor Babies” born every year.
    The video below depicts the many faces of the “Anchor Baby Generation”. The video includes a fascinating segment showing a group of elementary school children in Santa Ana, California confronting the Minutemen vigilantes. The video ends with a now famous statement by Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez of the University of Texas at Austin.

    http://www.aztlan.net/anchor_baby_power.htm

    “This is country belongs to Mexico” is said by the Mexican Militant. This is a common teaching that the U.S. is really AZTLAN, belonging to Mexicans, which is taught to Mexican kids in Arizona and California through a LA Raza educational program funded by American Tax Payers via President Obama, when he gave LA RAZA $800,000.00 in March of 2009!

    Some Interesting Quotes from Hispanic “Leaders” :
    “Through love of having children, we are going to take over.” . . . NO, BUT THE MEXICANS ARE AND WE’RE PAYING FOR THEM! MEXICANS ARE SHAMELESS RACIST CULTURE THAT EXPORTS THEIR PREGNANT WOMEN!

  2. avatar

    Thanks for picking up the gauntlet. It cannot have been a pleasant evening, but it is important that the truth to be told, in spite of concerted efforts to suppress it.

  3. avatar

    NARCOmex on our OPEN & UNDEFENDED BORDERS

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/10/mexican-drug-cartels-make-texas-border.html

    *
    Published on Judicial Watch (http://www.judicialwatch.org)
    ________________________________________
    Mexican Drug Cartels Make Texas Border A “War Zone”
    By Judicial Watch Blog
    Created 18 Oct 2011 – 12:07pm
    While the Obama Administration downplays violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities in Texas reveal that Mexican drug cartels have transformed parts of the state into a war zone where shootings, beheadings, kidnappings and murders are common.
    In fact, drug-cartel violence is so severe that Texas counties along the Mexican border are under attack around the clock, according to an alarming report [1] published by the state’s Department of Agriculture. The agency was ordered by the state legislature to conduct an assessment of the impact of illegal activity along the Texas-Mexico border on rural landowners and the agriculture industry.

  4. avatar

    Going into the lion’s den! Thanks for taking one for the team. We need more people willing AND able to step up against this! Take our nation back!

  5. avatar

    The dream act would be a bad policy because it would only encourage illegals more to break our laws.Do something about anchor babies. Stop the practice of illegals having babies to gain citizenship through birth.

  6. avatar

    OBAMA HAS SUED TWO STATES (ALBAMA & ARIZONA) ON BEHALF OF HIS LA RAZA PARTY BASE OF ILLEGALS.

    OBAMA HAS PROMISED LA RAZA AMNESTY, MUCHO DREAM ACTS AT GRINGO COST, OR IN THE VERY LEAST, CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT!

    THERE ARE ONLY EIGHT STATES WITH A POPULATION GREATER THAN MEX-OCCUPIED LOS ANGELES COUNTY WHERE HALF OF ALL JOBS ARE HELD BY ILLEGALS USING STOLEN SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. DESPITE THIS, GOV JERRY BROWN JUST SIGNED A LAW THAT PROHIBITS!!!! EMPLOYERS FROM USING E-VERIFY! THAT IS YOUR LA RAZA DEM AT WORK. HE ALSO JUST SIGNED A LAW HANDING SPECIAL DISCOUNTS TO LA RAZA FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DAYS AFTER HE APPROVED ONE TO RAISE RATES FOR LEGALS.

    IN OUR OWN COUNTRY, LA RAZA SUPREMACY IS THE POWER, WE ARE HERE ONLY TO PAY FOR THE INVADERS’ OCCUPATION!

    VIVA LA RAZA LOOTING?

    FROM THE BLOG EMAIL ARTICLES ON THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF THE MEXICAN INVASION, OCCUPATION AND EVER GROWING WELFARE STATE, AND THE RISE OF LA RAZA SUPREMACY:
    Go to http://www.MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com

    WIKILEAKS EXPOSES OBAMA’S AGENDA OF OPEN BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
    *
    OBAMA’S HISPANICIZATION OF AMERICA FOR THE LA RAZA VOTE:
    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/obamas-hispanicazation-of-america-push.html
    *
    OBAMA’S LA RAZA SUPREMACIST INFESTED ADMINISTRATION

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/06/obamas-administration-infested-with.html

  7. avatar

    we are mexico’s JOBS, WELFARE, FREE MEDICAL, FREE EDUCATION & JAILS PROGRAM!

    VIVA LA RAZA LOOTING? DEMS DO IT EVERY DAY!

    MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
    *
    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/10/immigrations-onslaught-should-we-be.html

    *
    Immigration’s Onslaught: Overloaded Nations and Failing States

    In the blink of 24 years, America will add 75 million legal immigrants to our shores. They arrive from failed states like Somalia, Ethiopia, India, Mexico and Indonesia. If you don’t think we’re in trouble—I seize this opportunity to bring your attention to other specialists who understand our situation. They’ve seen what I’ve seen. They know what I know. They understand: when you ‘see’ it, you comprehend it. Until you have seen it, you can……

    http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty701.htm
    by Frosty Wooldridge

  8. avatar

    It all comes down to one thing, There are many ways to do some thing but always there is one right way. If you go to another country and go through the proper channels that is right and they will welcome you. If you don’t chances are they will jail you. Illegal is the way to get jailed and shipped out, That is why we have a set amount of work and visitor visas. If you break our laws then you have committed a crime against and in our country , in plane word illegal means against the law, this takes us back to doing it right or wrong. The choice is yours. Make a bad choice and you must pay the price all Americans live under the same law. Is there a reason you should be treated different?

  9. avatar
    Mark Couvillion on

    One argument that is not being made goes as follows:

    Foreign studentys have always been welcome at American universities. All of the students eligible for the DREAM Act have always had the opportunity to go back to their native conuntry and apply for a student visa based upon university acceptance.

    There allready is a way for them to attend an American university. The DREAM Act would make a mockery of all of the foreign stundents who go by the rules.