California Passes Dream Act!

California passed a new law, AB 131 - known as the California Dream Act and will become effective January 1, 2013. "Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking," Brown said in a statement from Sacramento. "The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us."

Currently, Dream students in California must pay resident tuition rates if they graduated from a state high school and are actively seeking to legalize their immigration status, officials said. The other half of the California Dream Act was signed into law by Brown in July and allows undocumented immigrant students to receive privately funded scholarships administered at public universities and community colleges.

That law, called AB 130, was needed because the University of California and California State University systems avoided giving the private scholarships to their undocumented students, citing vagueness in laws, said the legislative aide to California Dream Act's author, state Assemblyman Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles).

Cedillo called Saturday's signing "historic" and path-breaking for the United States -- coming at a time when many states such as Alabama and Arizona are passing aggressive laws targeting undocumented immigrants. Some of those laws are being challenged in court.

"The signing of now both parts of the California Dream Act will send a message across the country that California is prepared to lead the country with a positive and productive vision for how we approach challenging issues related to immigration," Cedillo said in a statement.

"Today, Ana and Maria Gomez, Jaime Kim, David Cho, Pedro Ramirez -- and thousands of other students who are some of the best and brightest in California -- have been told by our governor and legislative leaders that you are welcome here, that you have something to contribute, that you can be proud of what you have accomplished and that your talents and ambition will not go to waste," Cedillo said.

Under AB 131, qualifying Dream students will be eligible for state Board of Governors fee waivers, student aid programs administered by a college or university, and the state aid Cal Grants program for state universities, community colleges, and qualifying independent and career colleges or technical schools in California, according to Cedillo.

The California Dream Act differs from a proposed federal bill called the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors -- or DREAM -- Act, which would create a path to citizenship for immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children under the age of 16 and have lived in the United States for at least five years, obtained a high school or General Education Development diploma, and demonstrated "good moral character," according to a White House fact sheet.

California´s Republican Governor´s CIR Enlightened Perspective

Ruben Navarette Reports:

Governor's wise words on immigration

UNION-TRIBUNE
January 23, 2008

Republicans love to talk about immigrants.
Rudy Giuliani has promised to end illegal immigration in three years. Mike Huckabee has a plan that calls for 12 million illegal immigrants to leave the country in 120 days. And Mitt Romney says things that please restrictionists, and yet many can't figure out if he believes what he says. Now for real insight, let's turn to a Republican who is also an immigrant. With the California primary approaching on Feb. 5, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has advice for Republican presidential hopefuls who intend to come to the Golden State and exploit the immigration issue: Don't. During a recent meeting with the Union-Tribune's editorial board, I asked the governor, who hasn't endorsed any of the candidates for the upcoming primary, what advice he'd give them. Specifically, I wanted to know what he thought about how some have been using the immigration issue to scare up votes. “In a way, I understand why they're doing it,” he said, “because when it comes to close elections, it's all about winning. It's not about sending a good message.”
Schwarzenegger understands immigration better than just about any elected official in the country, from a policy perspective and a personal one. And he has a lot to say. About the possibility that California might grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants: “It'll never happen. It'll never get past me because I made it very clear that we have to have immigration reform” first and not address the problem piecemeal. About the fact that foreign workers have become a permanent part of the American economy: “We have our domestic workers . . . but we fall short of the workers (we need) on the farms, and in construction and other places.”
About what that should mean for immigration reform: “We should have the right for companies to go outside of the state, outside of the country . . . and find those workers and bring them in on temporary worker permits.”

That's the policy part of Schwarzenegger. I then asked the governor about whether there wouldn't still be some people upset that these immigrants were here – legally or not – because of the impact on the culture. At that point, things got personal. “I would say that there would always be a problem,” he said. “There is always a certain percentage of people who just don't like foreigners. But that's OK. That's not the problem that we have right now. The problem we have right now is that, every single day, you hear about illegals, people coming in here illegally. That creates hostility," he said. Yet, unlike the nativists, Schwarzenegger doesn't blame the immigrants themselves. Contrary to the popular myth that illegal immigrants cut in line, the governor realizes that there is no line – not if you're poor and from a country where the number of people who want to come to the United States far exceeds the visa allotment. “Those people didn't choose (to come illegally),” he said. “It's the only way they can get in here. . . . It's not like you can stand in line and wait a few days and then you can get in. There's no way. There is a system that has been created on purpose to look the other way and to bring them in because everyone knows that we cannot function without them.” That dependence creates more hostility. Schwarzenegger encountered some of that himself when he came to California more than 30 years ago, but not to the degree he sees it today.
“I felt it a little bit in my own case,” he said. “I felt a little bit of prejudice, people saying 'What's the Nazi doing here?' and stuff like that. They imitated my accent, and made jokes about it, and they came into the gym sometimes and said, 'Heil Hitler.' ” And so, he said, foreigners have to be aware that xenophobia is out there. Government has the duty to devise a reasonable policy, he said. But newcomers can also ease tensions by assimilating and “infiltrating into the American society.” Schwarzenegger knows immigration. And it's a shame that, because of an outmoded provision in the Constitution prohibiting anyone born on foreign soil from running for president, he can't enter the race and put what he knows to good use in this campaign – and for the good of the entire country.