D.R.E.A.M Act is Re-Introduced

On Thursday, March 26th 2009, Sen.

Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act in the U.S. Senate (S.729 111th Congress)while Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (D-FL) introduced it in the House of Representatives. (H.R. 1751 111th Congress)
Currently the DREAM act has 18 Co-Sponsor in the Senate, which include :

• Bingaman (D-NM)
• Boxer (D-CA)
• Dodd (D-CT)
• Feinstein (D-CA)
• Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Harkin (D-IA)
• Kerry (D-MA)
• Menendez (D-NJ)
• Murray (D-WA)
• Bill Nelson (D-FL)
• Whitehouse (D-RI)
• Durbin (D-IL)
• Reid (D-NV)
• Lugar (R-IN)
• Martinez (R-FL)
• Leahy (D-VT)
• Lierberman (I-CT)
• Kennedy (D-MA)
• Feingold (D-WI)
  

The DREAM Act needs to receive support from at least 60 Senators to pass in the Senate. Additionally the text of the new 2009 DREAM Act is now up on at the Library of Congress website. There is one new provision in this version of the DREAM Act, which includes the increase of the limit age from 30 yrs to 35 yrs. You can read the text of the bill here http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c111query.html and search by bill number S.729.

This week La Colectiva is continuing their petition and postcard campaign and will also continue to contact Congressmen to support the DREAM Act.

Greetings!

This is La Colectiva's first entry and before we start posting, we would like to tell you a little bit about ourselves. La Colectiva is a non-profit student-run organization at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana that was founded on the basis of addressing the various issues that undocumented students faced on campus. More recently, we have expanded into an organization that exists to address the challenges faced by the immigrant community within Champaign-Urbana while advocating for social justice, change on behalf of all immigrants, and serving the community by fostering leadership and providing resources through grassroots initiatives. Our activities have included tax workshops, college informational workshops, volunteer work at middle and high schools, working on the passage of the D.R.E.A.M. Act, and forums in which we inform and educate the community and the campus alike on any issues related to the immigrant community.
Thank you,
La Colectiva