Another major endorsement this week from the Council of Foreign Relations:

Earned legalization: The Task Force favors a policy of earned legalization, not amnesty, for many of the illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. The DREAM Act, reintroduced in the 111th Congress, provides the right model by requiring that young people without status who wish to remain in the United States must attend college or perform military service and demonstrate good moral character in order to earn their eligibility for permanent residence.

While we don’t agree with many of the recommendations to fund more 287(g) programs (hence allocate more state and local law enforcement resources towards cracking down on non-criminal behavior) and provide for a border wall that does not work, the Council endorsement of the DREAM Act is a step in the right direction.

TASK FORCE MEMBERS

Edward Alden, Council on Foreign Relations

Mary Boies, Boies & McInnis LLP

Robert C. Bonner, The Sentinel HS Group/Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Jeb Bush, Jeb Bush and Associates, LLC

Allan E. Goodman, Institute of International Education

Gordon H. Hanson, University of California, San Diego

Michael H. Jordan, MHJ Holdings Co.

Donald Kerwin, Migration Policy Institute

Richard D. Land, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Elisa Massimino, Human Rights First

Thomas F. McLarty III, McLarty Associates

Eliseo Medina, Service Employees International Union

Steve Padilla, Aquarius Group Inc

Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University

Andrew D. Selee, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Margaret D. Stock, U.S. Army Reserve

Frances Fragos Townsend, Baker Botts, LLP

Kathleen Campbell Walker, Brown McCarroll, LLP

Raul H. Yzaguirre, Arizona State University