SEIZE CHANCE FOR ‘DREAMERS’

In the heat of the moment, it’s easy to lose perspective. Especially when playing politics.

It is real progress that top Republicans in the House now propose a stand-alone version of the Dream Act, which would extend a pathway to citizenship to young people brought to this country illegally by their parents.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte now support a concept they voted against in 2010, when the Dream Act passed the then-Democratic-controlled House and came within a few votes of passing the Senate.

Given the political realities that year, it was considered the only chance at any sort of immigration reform.

Given the realities of real families, it represented genuine hope for children who grew up American but lacked a legal path to pursue their adult lives in the United States. Politics have changed. Now, Democrats and the “dreamers” sense an opportunity for much, much more. Now, any attempt to offer a path to citizenship to the dreamers is being rejected by those who demand the same path for parents, too. Understandable. There’s no question a comprehensive approach to immigration reform is the best way to achieve real border security, as well as deal with the economic and humanitarian problems created by an inadequate immigration system.

A pathway to citizenship for the nation’s entire undocumented population makes sense for humanitarian, economic, security and law-enforcement reasons.

There is also a clear strategic advantage to keeping the dreamers tied to a comprehensive package. They are, after all, the most sympathetic group for whom legal- ization is being proposed.

What’s more, broad GOP support for helping these young people remains in doubt. While some high-profile Republicans voice support, others spout nonsense.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, says for every valedictorian dreamer, “there’s another 100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.” Headless bodies, anyone? He gets support for this outlandish assertion from former Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, who writes in the Daily Caller that King is offering “honest talk” about another “amnesty bill.”

Neither King nor Tancredo flinch from slinging incendiary rhetoric at an already hot subject.

Both embolden those who seek to maintain the enforcement-first status quo that has proven to be a colossally expensive failure.

But despite the shifting political sands, the human needs haven’t changed.

These kids still need Congress to pass a law that reflects the reality of who they are.

Democrats and politically active dreamers who reject any possibility of passing a stand-alone bill to help kids who were brought to this country illegally are overreaching.

They need to remember that it wasn’t so long ago that it would have been a major victory to pass the Dream Act.

Those in leadership positions in the push for comprehensive immigration reform should not play politics with the children who need a permanent remedy for their precarious legal status.

A little perspective can provide valuable guidance. The progress that has been made should not be squandered.