ACTION ALERT: Contact Your State Representatives to Support the DREAM and Smart Enforcement Acts
The House Could Vote as Early as Tomorrow!
Update:
On May 4th, the Illinois Senate passed the Illinois DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) Act, and on May 6th the Illinois House passed the Smart Enforcement Act.
The Illinois DREAM Act passed with a strong bipartisan vote of 45-11. Of the 45 votes in support, 11 were Senators from the Republican Party. The Smart Enforcement Act also passed two days later with a vote of 66-43 with 17 supporting votes coming from Republicans.
The passing of these two bills is a great stride forward in the Illinois race for improved immigrant and refugee rights.
The Illinois DREAM Act will provide immigrant youths with:
- Good information that will help them make good college decisions.
- It will provide greater educational access through its proposed privately-funded Illinois DREAM fund.
- This fund would provide financial support for undocumented youths with no cost for the taxpayer.
The Smart Enforcement Act is a direct response to ICE’s (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) discriminatory and unregulated practice of arrests and deportations of people who have minor convictions or have never committed a crime. The Smart Enforcement Act will do three things.
- Give counties the choice whether to participate in “Secure Communities”;
- Offer a full accounting of the program’s impact and costs to local law enforcement; and
- Require that this program be used only to identify and deport convicted criminals.
Take ACTION and support the Illinois DREAM Act and Smart Enforcement Act.
Action
Contact your State Representatives and ask them to support the Illinois DREAM Act and Smart Enforcement Act.
Information regarding your local representative can be found at this link, http://action.icirr.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3845
To learn more go to these following sites:
DREAM Act: http://icirr.org/en/Illinois_Dream_Act
Smart Enforcement: http://icirr.org/en/node/5342