Matt Ortega

The skillful writer behind Latina Lista, Marisa Treviño, penned a great piece about the DREAM Act for the Huffington Post, which will be finding its way to the Senate floor for a vote fairly soon.

Across the country, debate over the DREAM Act — providing undocumented students who were 15-years-old or younger when they arrived with their parents, a path to citizenship, if they either go on to college or military service and prove to be of good moral character — always seems to get stuck on the point of granting undocumented immigrants in-state tuition.

It doesn’t matter to critics that studies show that in states that already allow undocumented immigrants college access and the opportunity to compete for financial aid that the number of undocumented students is far too small to deprive native-born students of college admission slots or financial aid.

Critics still complain.

Treviño notes the imbalance in fairness by blaming the children of undocumented immigrants for their legal status. These kids did not have a choice but are largely “American” — they just were not born in the U.S.

This evening, I was invited to participate in a conference call with Senator Durbin, the main sponsor of the current DREAM Act bill going before the Senate tomorrow afternoon.

He said that many of his colleagues, who are the same critics who have shouted down the DREAM Act before, have expressed their “displeasure” in having to vote for this bill again.

Why? Because it may help the children of undocumented immigrants?

As one reader of Latina Lista commented, since when in this country do we blame the children for the sins of the parents?

If that were the case, then every child of a drunk driver, robber, rapist, embezzler, etc. would be locked up.

It’s not done because our common sense tells us it’s not right.

Treviño lays out the case here.