Hatch pushes immigration bill

When Sen. Orrin Hatch returns to Capitol Hill this week after a month's recess, he'll also jump into the national debate on immigration policy.

Hatch, R-Utah, recharged that debate a month ago with an 11th-hour reintroduction of the DREAM Act, a bill that could give more than 50,000 undocumented immigrants a chance at legal residency. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act can turn certain young people into "motivated, hard-working and educated contributors to our society," Hatch said when presenting his bill on the Senate floor July 31.

If passed, the DREAM Act would help young people — those who were brought into the United States illegally by their migrant parents — to apply for conditional legal resident status. As legal residents, they could pay in-state tuition at state colleges, qualify for financial aid at those schools and legally work in this country while applying for U.S. citizenship. A youth who is eligible for such benefits must have lived in the United States for at least five years, have earned a high school diploma and have no criminal record.

Utah is one of a handful of states already allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition. The DREAM Act would go much further, Hatch told the Senate.

"The fact of the matter is that cheaper tuition at state schools, no matter how beneficial for these young people, will not solve the larger problem: their illegal immigration status. While I do not advocate granting unchecked amnesty to illegal immigrants, I am, however, in favor of providing children — children who did not make the decision to enter the United States illegally — the opportunity to earn the privilege of remaining here legally. The DREAM Act will do just that," Hatch said.

Patrick Shen, an attorney with the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Hatch, discussed the act with the Salt Lake-based Latino Alliance. "There are those who misunderstood the purpose of the bill. They saw it as an invitation to illegal immigration," he began. "But anyone who comes illegally tomorrow is not going to benefit from the DREAM Act. The beneficiaries are those who have been in the country a long time, who speak English, and who have no blemishes in their background. Where are you going to look for a better group of people to welcome as Americans?" asked Shen, a Taiwanese immigrant who went to Brigham Young University.

Undocumented immigrants constitute "a perpetual underclass," Shen continued. "They're here. And we can bury our heads in the sand . . . or we can turn them into assets. We can allow them to work and pay taxes."