Tag: Dream Act

DENVER – Undocumented Colorado youths and immigration reform activists, frustrated by the lack of action on comprehensive immigration reform in Congress, gathered across the...

Sen. John McCain was once one of the major Republican supporters of immigration reform, arguing for comprehensive legislation as recently as 2008. Faced with accusations of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, McCain has moved to a much tougher immigration stance during his Republican primary. But after the primary vote next Tuesday, will the old McCain come back?

BOULDER-- As the immigration debate rages across the nation and heats up in Colorado, undocumented youth here, frustrated by a sense of powerlessness to change their situation, have formed a political advocacy group called VOICE or Voices of Immigrant Children for Education Equality. Here are some of their stories and thoughts on immigration policy reform.

Liberal Boulder Democratic Congressman Jared Polis and a small group of Colorado's most conservative state lawmakers share a focus: They're all pushing immigration policy reform and they all believe that now is the time to act.

Thousands of Colorado children and adults would be eligible for permanent legal status under Dream Act legislation awaiting introduction in Congress this year. However, a recent report found that of the 2.1 million eligible in the country, considerably fewer would be able to surmount the barriers to education and military service that are necessary to take part in the program.

Obama tried to carve out middle ground on immigration reform in a speech at American University’s School of International Service Thursday. Light on specific...

DENVER-- The Higher Education Flexibility Act passed the Senate last week and is scheduled to make it to the House Monday. It's a bold bill that would rearrange the relationship between public universities and the government. It would mean greater autonomy for university administrations which, for example, would be free to levy tuition hikes under 9 percent per year. Current higher education funding in low-tax recession-wracked Colorado has become unsustainable. The new bill seeks to buffer universities against a likely $300 million funding cut next year.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing this morning, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano carefully skirted repeated questions about her views of whether longtime undocumented immigrants living in the United States ought to get a chance at legalization.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is voicing his approval of federal legislation that would give undocumented high school students in the United States a legal avenue to attend college. The proposal -- introduced in Congress two weeks ago as the DREAM Act -- would permit undocumented individuals who entered the United States before turning 15 years old to obtain conditional permanent residency in order to attend college or a trade school or to serve in the military.

Opponents have branded the DREAM Act "amnesty," and the latest incarnation of it was tabled in the Senate Wednesday. The bill would allow people...