We have a lot of support from faith-based groups such as Catholic Charities and Catholic Bishops. Matthew Soerens, a Board of Immigration Appeals-Accredited Immigration Counselor at World Relief DuPage in Illinois, writes about how passing the DREAM Act is the right thing to do but that it may be headed for failure if we don’t speak up:

In my work as an immigration counselor, I’ve met many of these kids. One, who at the age of six was brought from Mexico by a mother who was fleeing an abusive relationship, realized for the first time what it meant to be undocumented when her high school guidance counselor informed her that, despite her impressive grades, it would be almost impossible for her to attend college. She could only cry out to God, wondering why she had been brought to this country and allowed to excel, only to face this brick wall.

I think God has answered, though, pointing us back to the Word and asking us, as the church, to do all we can to remove the stumbling blocks in these kids’ way. As citizens, we are called to advocate for justice, to speak up for these who have no voice in our democracy (Proverbs 31:8). We have that opportunity now. A bill called the DREAM Act, which would provide legal status to many individuals who entered the U.S. as children and have graduated from high school here, was reintroduced in both the House of Representatives (H.R.1751) and the Senate (S.729) recently. It seems uncontroversial to allow children who had no choice in their legal status dilemma the ability to work and study, but the same bill has been introduced in previous years and defeated. This bill will, sadly, likely fail again unless our legislators hear from us, loudly, that they need to support the DREAM Act.

The entire article is here.