‘Dreamers’ in the military

The House of Representatives has another opportunity this week to achieve meaningful immigration reform. Because of the Defense budget, the House can show that young people brought up in the U.S., who want to serve in their country’s military, do not have to pay for their parents’ mistakes in bringing them here without documents.

Instead, the Republican legislative majority is once again showing its inability to look beyond the feared stereotype of an amnesty for dangerous undocumented criminals when it comes to immigration.

California GOP Rep. Jeff Denham is expected to introduce his ENLIST bill to help Dreamers who want to join the military, as an amendment to the Defense budget.

Unfortunately, this bill is expected to be rejected. In theory, there is a majority of lawmakers in Congress who would support this bill. According to the polls, “Dreamers” are the undocumented immigrants who are the most sympathetic to Americans because of their personal situation. However, growing pressure and even support from part of the Tea Party for immigration reform seem to be useless.

The influence of the Heritage Foundation and the ideological stubbornness of a conservative wing of the Republican caucus are stronger than the efforts of businesspeople, clergy and other allies. These supporters see the positive side of comprehensive reform, or at least realize how much opposing the legalization of millions of people who have worked and paid taxes in the U.S. for years will hurt the Republicans.

Adding amendments to federal budget appropriations is a common process. What is unusual, when it comes to talking Defense, is for a group of lawmakers to prefer to disqualify potential soldiers because of their parents’ mistakes, instead of looking at the contributions that these sons and daughters can make to boost and protect their nation, the United States of America.