Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and more than a dozen religious leaders representing a broad variety of faith traditions this week announced a DREAM Act Sabbath – an initiative enlisting churches, synagogues, and mosques around the country to dedicate time during their regular weekly worship service to a conversation about the DREAM Act. The nationwide event will take place this fall on September 23rd, September 24th, and September 25th.
“Community efforts, including the unique perspective that can come from our faith communities, are essential to passing the DREAM Act,” Bennet said. "The struggle for these kids is guided by lessons from our history: we cannot give up, and we all stand on the shoulders of people who have come before us, who have fought for rights that seemed unimaginable at the time they were fighting for them. These kids only know America as their home, and we should provide them with the opportunity to go to college or serve our nation in the military.”
“For the last ten years I have been working on the DREAM Act, there has been one constant: strong support from the faith community,” Durbin said. “The DREAM Act is based on a fundamental moral principle that is shared by all the faith traditions represented here today – it is wrong to punish children for the actions of their parents. This fall, congregations around the country will put their faith into action when they observe the DREAM Act Sabbath. They will put a human face on the plight of undocumented students and mobilize support to pass the DREAM Act.”
The DREAM Act is a narrowly tailored bill that would give undocumented students a chance to earn legal status if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and complete two years of college or military service in good standing. Introduced for the first time in 2001, the DREAM Act has been reported out of committee by a wide bipartisan majority, passed the House of Representatives, and received a bipartisan majority vote in the Senate, only to fall because of a filibuster. Today’s announcement will continue to build on the broad grassroots support for the DREAM Act, focusing particularly on faith communities.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, said: "These young persons, who are for all practical purposes Americans like all of
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