David Dayen reports that Sen. Harry Reid is going to propose the DREAM Act as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. I'm not sure I can overstate the importance of this vote, in political or policy terms. Policy-wise, the DREAM Act grants the undocumented children of immigrants who have completed high school or committed themselves to military service a path to citizenship as long as they can prove they were brought to the country before the age of 16. On the high end, the Migration Policy Center estimates that around 2 million people could seek legalization under the act -- although difficulties meeting the eligibility requirements could push the ultimate number of those who would actually be legalized much lower.
From a political perspective, this would provide the Democratic Party, and the administration, with its first important non-enforcement-related immigration policy accomplishment to present to Latino voters since the 2008 election, giving them something to actually turn out for in 2010 beyond the increased nativism of the opposing party.
It's unclear whether Republicans will let that happen, though -- while it's fairly difficult to make an argument for holding minors accountable for the deeds of their parents (particularly those who are on their way to becoming productive members of society) without sounding completely callous, I could see Republicans objecting on process terms and just saying they want to see the bill get a separate vote.
