Fact Check: Harry Reid, Sharron Angle, and the anti-American DREAM Act

Harry Reid has responded to Sharron Angle's new immigration ad that includes a segment about the anti-American DREAM Act, and he's misleading about the features of that anti-American bill. The Angle ad is here, the Reid response is here, and the text of the Act is at [1]

1. What Reid gets partly right is calling Angle on the part of her ad that says, "Now, Reid has introduced a plan that gives illegals a pathway to amnesty and even special college tuition rates with the money coming from Nevada taxpayers." Reid is technically correct in calling that a "lie", although that depends on your time reference; see [2]. The DREAM Act itself doesn't give "special college tuition rates" to those covered by its first stage. However, it would let states decide to give illegal aliens covered by the bill the in-state rate. That means that the illegal aliens covered by the bill would be able to get a better rate than out-of-state U.S. citizens can get. See the discussion here.

2. Reid lies in response to the quote from the ad above, saying "The reality is that the DREAM Act is not amnesty for anyone who willfully broke the law." As a reading of [1] will show, the DREAM Act would indeed be open to those who "willfully broke the law". For instance, someone could have willfully crossed the border illegally as a teenager and still be covered by the bill by presenting false documentation showing they were here for the allotted time. There's nothing in the bill requiring someone to have been brought here against their will by their parents. A discussion of the loose requirements from an immigration lawyer (based on an earlier version of the bill but largely the same) is here. Note also the huge loopholes, allowing requirements to be waived throughout the stages of the bill based on various circumstances. And, it's not "amnesty" in the sense of those who'd be covered getting everything for nothing. However, it would be perceived as amnesty by millions of prospective illegal aliens around the world. See the reform not amnesty page for more on that aspect.

3. Then, Reid engages in the same Orwellian locution as Andrea Nill: "The truth is the DREAM Act does not give any special tuition rate to a single person here illegally, period. Not a single one. Moreover, in-state tuition rules are determined on a state-by-state basis, and the DREAM Act would have absolutely no effect on the decisions of individual states as to how they grant in-state status." Once again, he's correct about the DREAM Act not itself giving "any special tuition rate" (aside from [2]). It just lets states do that. Some states will, other states won't. However, the bottom line is that because of the bill even more states will feel free to give illegal aliens a better rate than out-of-state citizens.

[1] Go to thomas.loc.gov and search for S. 3827. That's Dick Durbin's version of September 22, 2010, which presumably is the same as the Reid amendment to the Defense Authorization bill. I was unable to find the text of that amendment, but it would be surprising if they aren't identical.

[2] Note that Section 10 of [1] says "an alien who adjusts status to that of a lawful permanent resident under this Act shall be eligible only for the following assistance under such title" and lists various student loan programs. Someone who's covered by the DREAM Act would first be put in a "conditional permanent resident status", and then after meeting various criteria could adjust to full LPR status. Section 10 covers what they're eligible for after adjusting to full LPR status. Whether that should be considered a "special college tuition rate" isn't entirely clear.