{"id":6318,"date":"2014-04-08T13:13:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T17:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=6318"},"modified":"2018-12-28T15:06:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T20:06:27","slug":"who-dreamed-up-putting-amnesty-in-the-defense-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2014\/04\/08\/who-dreamed-up-putting-amnesty-in-the-defense-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Who DREAMed Up Putting Amnesty in the Defense Bill?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DREAMWho wants to add a DREAM Act to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)?\u00a0 If you thought this is a harmless effort coming from a House Republican, think again.<\/p>\n

Yes, Representative Jeff Denham (R-California) may be the current face of the effort to tack amnesty onto the NDAA, but he was not the first pushing for it. Past sponsors of a DREAM Act amendment to the NDAA were actually Senate Democrats<\/i>, one of whom was then the junior Senator from Illinois: Barack Obama<\/i>.<\/p>\n

When stand-alone DREAM Act measures failed, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) sought to add it to must-pass legislation in the summer 2007.\u00a0 Along with co-sponsor Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Durbin proposed a DREAM Act amendment<\/a> (S.AMDT.2237) to the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2008 (H.R. 1585).\u00a0 The Washington Times<\/i> Editorial Board panned<\/a> the Durbin-Obama DREAM effort as \u201cNo DREAM at all.\u201d Congress woke up, saw what a bad idea it was, and killed it. The nightmare was over\u2026 or was it?<\/p>\n

In 2010, the NDAA amnesty effort awoke again. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) planned to introduce a DREAM Act amendment to the National Defense Authorization Bill for fiscal year 2011 (S.3454<\/a>).\u00a0 Despite Minority Leader Mitch McConnell\u2019s request that there would be no DREAM Act amendments, Reid refused. FAIR\u2019s President Dan Stein criticized<\/a> the DREAM Act for being poor policy, because it would only encourage more illegal immigration. Furthermore, Stein wrote to decry the inappropriate way that Reid was \u201c[u]sing a bill that authorizes funding for our military \u2014 at a time when our troops are fighting in the Middle East \u2014 as a vehicle to reward illegal aliens.\u201d Thankfully, on September 21, 2010, the Republicans filibustered<\/a> and successfully killed the DREAM Act amendment\u2026 or so they thought\u2026<\/p>\n

That brings us to 2014. Representative Denham wanted<\/a> to insert the DREAM Act language from his ENLIST Act into the NDAA. However, when House Armed Services Chairman Buck McKeon (R-California) refused<\/a> to allow it to be drafted into the initial language of the bill, Denham now is hoping to get a DREAM Act amendment to the NDAA introduced just like Democrats Obama, Durbin and Reid.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder amnesty has been compared to Freddy Krueger<\/a>. Just when you thought the Nightmare <\/i>was over, what was supposedly dead last time is back haunting you. Just remember: the 2014 sequel to the 2007 and 2010 amnesty fights may have some new characters, but don\u2019t forget who was behind the original.