DREAM Act faces dim future in House, but…

The GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in the New Year is worrying some members of the Latino population and left-wing activists who were hoping the much-touted DREAM Act would pass and become a first step in achieving amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.

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The Democrat-controlled Senate even failed to pass the DREAM Act in December, leaving it to the new Congress -- which returns on January 5, 2011 -- to try again. The DREAM Act, which stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, is being sold by the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party as a granted legal residency for the many illegal aliens brought to the United States as children. However, the act would benefit adults as old as 30, which caused the Republicans to criticize it as a backdoor amnesty bill. When the bill failed to pass, President Barack Obama called it “maybe my biggest disappointment.” Others have called it his biggest failure, In the November 2 election, 63 congressional seats were captured by Republicans, giving them a an overwhelming majority in the House. However, the news media, pundits and illegal immigration advocates are telling the GOP establishment that continuing the party's position on illegal immigration will hurt them at the polls next election. "If the GOP leadership keeps taking advice from the progressives in the Democrat Party and in the media, they will find themselves out of power. Someone has to fight for the majority of Americans who want adequate border security coupled with a tough illegal alien policy," said political strategist Mike Baker. "Anyone who studies the history of the American left knows that they will not stop pushing until they achieve their goals. In this case, they are looking at millions of voters for their plantation; voters who for the most part do not understand English and depend on plantation overseers to interpret," Baker said. The news media continue their drumbeat of an impending backlash by Hispanic voters who sympathize with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. But conservative lawmakers such as New York's Republican Rep. Peter T. King, who becomes chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee on January 5, has promised to to propose tough legislation to secure the border. His proposal would empower local police to arrest suspected illegal immigrants, a policy opposed by the Obama Administration but supported by a majority of Americans. In addition, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee -- replacing far-left Democrat John Conyers -- said he will seek legislation that requires employers to check the immigration status of job applicants, something is already law. He also said he wants to punish employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants with tougher penalties. “We could free up millions of jobs for Americans and legal immigrants if we enforced our immigration laws against illegal workers,” Smith has said. Under the Obama Administration, the Homeland Security Department has placed its enforcement emphasis on deporting illegal aliens with criminal records.