Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Today is the National Day of Action for the Dream Act, to encourage Americans to call on Congresspeople and Senators to pass a ten-year piece of immigration legislation. This law would give high school students, who have lived in the United States for over five years, the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they spent years in US military service, or earned a college education. To contact your state's senators and your representative, please visit: house.gov and senate.gov.

Immigration xenophobia (and its community damage) was recently highlighted in a prior post. Other related commentary includes recent TARP legislation, which blocks hungry, talented, ambitious immigrants from staying here and contribute to the domestic economy.

The United States was built on the backs of poor, hungry immigrants who came for a better life. The United States has been shooting itself in the foot recently by not allowing talented foreign students to stay here, as well as by not allowing immigrants from becoming fully participating members of society. There are also political ramifications to this legislation, as it makes good long-term sense for all political parties not to alienate a segment of America that will continue to become a growing political and economic force to stay.

Take action today.