Is the DREAM Act Good for American Society?

by Satoshi Tanaka





by Ryohei Sugiyama






Dream Act Portal. Retrieved June 26, 2013 from

Is the dream act good for the US? Retrieved June 26th 2013 fromドリーム法案は米経済にプラスかマイナスか？/#more-3416

Undocumented Immigrants and Their Rights to Family Life

by Kentaro Sakamoto













DREAM Act for the future of undocumented youth

by Kim Jina

Immigrants could be classified in two groups, legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants. There are over 30 million legal immigrants in the United States. On the other hand, no one exactly knows how many undocumented immigrants are in the United States. There is only the estimated number of undocumented immigrants in the United States and it is 11 million. Undocumented immigrants in the United States are confronted with various situations. Among them, many young people have no idea why they are undocumented immigrants, because they live most of their life in the United States, have lots of American friends, and attend American schools. Most of them were brought to the United States when they were young by their parents. Some of them realized that they are undocumented immigrants when they had to prepare their passport for a school trip or tried to get a driver’s license.

They fall deep into despair with the fact that they are undocumented immigrants because they are not supposed to be in the United States where there is almost their whole life. If they are forced to go back to their home country, it is like they lose almost everything in their life.

The DREAM Act began in 2001 for giving chance to live legally in the United States to certain immigrants. The certain immigrants with good moral character would be granted temporary residency, if they meet some requirements of the DREAM Act. The requirements is that heir age must be at least 15 but less than 31, they must graduate from American high school, they arrived in the United States as minors, and they lived in the United States continuously for at least five years. Plus, if they complete two years in the military or two years at a four years’ institution of higher learning, they could gain conditional permanent residency for a six-year period and at the end of the six-year conditional period, they would be allowed to become legal U.S. citizens.

Every year, almost 65,000 undocumented students graduate from American high schools and most of them want to have higher education or join the military. However, with their illegal status, they cannot make their dreams come true. Of course, there is some criticism regarding this DREAM Act. They said that it is unfair to legal immigrants and it would create additional illegal immigrants. However, it is not like what the critics said, because the DREAM Act requires strict conditions.

In 2012, the president Barack Obama announced the administration would accept request for the DREAM Act. Even if they are classified into undocumented immigrants, they did not know that they were breaking the law and almost their whole life is in the United States. What is more, they think they are the U.S. citizen. Many of them are brilliant and their talents could contribute to the growth of American economy. It could be considered in a positive way. Hence, DREAM Act should be more supported to give opportunities to young undocumented immigrants for their future in the United States.

How to change undocumented immigrants’ situation in the U.S.

by Reina Doi

There are many undocumented immigrants in the U.S who demand a better life. They travel beyond the border, sometimes with fake passports, so a situation that many children do not recognize that they are undocumented until they are needed to turn in paper in some case is often happened. According to this fact, U.S. government decided to the plan Dream Act that admire undocumented immigrants to legal immigrants. This project seems good, and good step to adopt immigrants. However I think it is not enough to care of undocumented immigrants. Therefore I would like to point out the thing that U.S. should rethink.

First, it seems problem that only child will have a chance to get legal state. Of course, children had no choice to go to the U.S., so they should be prior, but adult had no choice to immigrate U.S. as well, because they face to leave their home country to support their family. Therefore I felt so weird when I heard about Dream Act for the first time (It does not mean I disagree with the Dream Act). I just wondered why government would allow only children. There are a reason that adult should have legal state. First of all, adult who is working has more opportunity that paper is needed, so they need paper to get guarantee from the government. In addition, they are almost working, so there are lots of care is needed about health, so working undocumented immigrants should have a benefit of legal state.

Through these reason, I would like to add that working undocumented immigrants also admire as a legal immigrants. It is needless to say that immigrants have to pass some terms. For example, they have no record a crime, good carrier at a working place and seems contribute U.S. society. Thus, if government admire like this suggestion, the situation that undocumented immigrants face will be better to live.

In conclusion, I think Dream Act will be good sample as a supporting immigrants project if it would success. In addition, I think many countries follow this model.

In Japan, there are children who face to leave Japan because of they are undocumented like Noriko. However, I think Noriko was no choice whether she came to Japan or not. so it seems there are no claim for children. If Dream Act will work, and improve some point I suggest before that adult should have more chance to get legal state,too, then this model will success to contribute getting better life for immigrants. Therefore I expect U.S. find solution that immigrants live with no fair, and if that projects will realize, many countries would imitate Dream Act, include Japan as well.

DREAM Act a solution for undocumented immigrants

by Yurika Chiba

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mexican Americans were 10.8% of the population of the United States in 2011. There is a huge number of immigrants from Mexico in the U.S. because the distance is very close between Mexico and the U.S. In addition to Mexican immigrants, America has more than 50,000,000 immigrants. However, it is a fact that America has also a lot of “undocumented immigrants.” One of the reasons is that the pay in America is better than that in their home countries. But, why are they “undocumented”? In America, it is hard for foreigners to get VISA.

ALBS JAPAN explains that the American government does not want to increase the number of immigrants because it thinks that undocumented immigrants cause American economy a great loss. In addition, America pays careful attention to immigration after 9.11 attacks. I think that the system of immigration intake in America has a problem to increase the number of undocumented immigrants.

Of course, they are illegal immigrants because they do not have the permission to get into America. However, some undocumented immigrants are doing jobs which American citizens do not want to like the 3Ds: Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult. In fact, their workings sustain the American economy even though some American citizens discriminate against them. It is clear that a lot of undocumented immigrants have a hard time in America.

How about their children, called “undocumented children”? They do not have their own passport. They can’t prove their nationality and can’t work legally. It is difficult for them to get their own driver licenses. Before they graduate from the high school, they can take the education. However, entering the university is difficult for them because most state university do not accept their entrance and they do not have enough money to enter the private university. That is why college-going rate of undocumented immigrants is really low. I watched the video about Jose Antonio Vargas whose parents are undocumented immigrants during the class. He hadn’t known he was an undocumented immigrant until he was 16 years old. After that, he has lived in America with hiding his citizenship. He is talented. But, he could not do an internship because he did not have American citizenship. In other word, he missed a lot of chances to do what he wanted. I think these children should be given the equal opportunity to live in America because they are innocent.

In order to help these children, the American government has suggested the “DREAM Act”, the idea of giving the right of living in America. Recently, the president of America, Obama, promotes this bill. It provides permanent residency to undocumented children. For example, the condition of application is given to people who enter into America until 16 years old and have lived in there for more than 5 years. Even though there are some more conditions to apply it, this bill is really beneficial to undocumented children. However, it has not passed yet in the U.S. If it does, undocumented immigrants who contribute to America would increase more and more. I think that this bill will give advantages to both American government and undocumented children.

On the other hand, opponents against DREAM Act insist that undocumented immigrants should get the green card by the legal process. They also explain that the opportunities of having green card should be equal to legal immigrants. However, in my opinion, undocumented immigrants do not have equal opportunities from the beginning. For undocumented immigrants, having the green card is much harder than other immigrants. I think DREAM Act has very important role to correct the gap between undocumented children and documented children because they did not do wrong at all.

In conclusion, the problem of undocumented immigrants in America should be solved as soon as possible. I do not mean that American government has to force undocumented immigrants to away from the U.S. Rather, American government should consider the policy which these immigrants can live in there at ease. As one of the solution, DREAM Act needs to pass for undocumented children. If undocumented children can have the right of permanent residency, next generation can live in America as American citizens. I believe that it would lead to a positive outcome for undocumented immigrants.



U.S. Census Bureau:

Retrieving June 23, 2013 from

ALBS JAPAN: Retrieving June 24, 2013 from

NYT, Mexican Data Show Migration to U.S. in Decline: Retrieving June 24, 2013 from

NYT, My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant: Retrieving June 24, 2013 from

The “DREAM Act” is still dream…

by Misa Takahashi

In November 7, the U.S president Obama was reelected. His reelection can realize ideal of ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants, or keep on harsh reality to them… I would like to talk about them aspect of ‘dream act’ in U.S.

Before talking about ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants, I mention about what ‘dream act’ is. The goal of this project is giving relief to children of ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ immigrants. If the law could be approved, they can have the right of permanent residence. The U.S. president Obama has worked hard for approve the law because of the background that immigrants are necessary for U.S. economy, however the Republican Party opposed to it because of increasing the expense of social security and the number of illegal immigrants. “Dream act” is still dream…

Almost of those children was taken by their parents who use illegal passports to U.S. in babyhood. Their parents are illegal immigrants, of course they are also ‘illegal’. Naturally enough, they don’t receive college education, get driver license, and more worse, they are suffering the fear of forced repatriation. But, they don’t know about their born countries and those cultures. They only know U.S., only have U.S. identities.

From such situation, Obama carried out the president command, give the reside license to them. If they satisfy requirement which is they are under 30 years old, enter illegally to U.S. until 16, pass 5 years from illegal entry, have the license of high school graduation or enroll and don’t have experience of crime, they can stay 2 years, get driver license and jobs. However, this command is temporary things, so it can’t become fundamental solution.

Considering for receiving immigrants in aspect of good point, immigrants support U.S. economy, in fact, most of all big farm workers is Hispanic immigrants. But ins aspect of bad point, increasing the number of illegal immigrants create to increase the expense of social security and expand the poor class. I think that we have to cut the roots ‘illegal immigrant’ to solve the problem and only help children who is difficult to be educated and got jobs in now. However, it is difficult to cut roots of illegal immigrant, if we do it, we must change the worldwide immigrant’s situation and problem. I think that this problem shouldn’t be left as it is, but there is no epoch-making solution.


NHK online.

Undocumented Immigrants

by Sakiko Maruyama

There are a lot of undocumented immigrants in the world.  While some commit illegal entry deliberately, others aren’t conscious of their undocumented status until they need their ID.  We still don’t have a formal way to differentiate them.  Indeed, especially in the latter case, the boundary of documented and undocumented people sometimes seems to be ambiguous. Undocumented immigrants who belong to the latter situation undoubtedly think of themselves as citizen, until they know they are undocumented immigrants. Even if they notice the fact, they think they are citizen, because they fulfill citizen’s obligation such as going school, working, or paying taxes. But now, there are few measures to protect them.  A nation functions rather exclusive toward the undocumented immigrants and people easily connect undocumented immigrants with crime. We need to differentiate the innocent undocumented immigrants from the others.

Then, it becomes necessary to establish the standards for judging it. The US is proud of itself as a land of immigrants. The society of the US is supported by immigrants. It is important for the US to unify immigrants in order to strengthen the bonds of the nation. There are approximately 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the US, so they are no longer the minority. The US takes the most positive attitude to this matter in the world. The US prepares the DREAM Act; it would provide undocumented youth with permanent residency or citizenship. This bill is based on the thinking that the undocumented children are innocent because they were took to the US by their families without proper documentation. It hasn’t yet been passed by the Congress, but I agree with this bill. The bill would make it possible to make a border between undocumented immigrants. It means that those children would be separated with their families, so this bill may be harsh to the families whose children are adapted to this bill. But needless to say, the US can’t accept all the undocumented immigrants and then, it seems to be a good standard so far.

Other countries except the US don’t positively deal with the matter of undocumented immigrants. It may take a long time for Japanese government that it comes up in the argument. I hope the DREAM Act will be passed by the Congress as soon as possible, and it affects other countries including Japan.

The Undocumented Immigrant Problem

by Marina Kouyama

“Issue of undocumented immigrant” – the American society is now facing with this problem. In this paper, I focus on this “undocumented immigrant problem” of America at first, and then consider the situation in Japan compared with the United States.

In America today, 11.2 million undocumented immigrants are estimated to live in the country. It includes the largest number is Hispanics, Asians, Muslims and Europeans. It is the problem whether people view undocumented immigrants in a positive or negative way. People who affirm claim that undocumented immigrants are an important part of the U.S. society’s workforce even though they are “illegal.” In fact, many workers who work on a large farm are undocumented immigrants who come from Mexico and some other countries. While on the other hand, people who oppose argue that undocumented immigrant could disturb the social order, concerning that American citizens have to pay for undocumented immigrant’s medical-care cost or unemployment insurance, or undocumented people deprive American citizen of their employment opportunity. Also, it is the problem that young generation of “undocumented immigrant” are innocent because they were brought to the country by their parents.

The problem about undocumented immigrant was a controversial issue in the recent U.S. presidential election, in which Obama was reelected.

The undocumented immigrant’s issue about what to do with their visa status has been the one of big tasks of American politics. In the previous presidential election, Obama made a granting of a path to legal status for undocumented youths a campaign promise, and has been aimed to realize the enactment of the DREAM Act. However, the DREAM Act is still invalid because of the criticism from the opposition Republicans. Therefore, last June (before the election), Obama announced a new policy of undocumented immigrant. He took measure to grant temporary residential status to undocumented youths by executive order, which does not require congressional action. Young undocumented immigrants can get the status if they come to America before age of 16 years; are 30 or younger; have lived in America since 15 June 2007; graduated from or are currently in high school, or are an American soldier; have no previous records of committing crimes. It is presumed that about 0.8 to 1.7 millions of undocumented youths would be blessed with this new policy. In the recent election, Obama did not directly win the vote from them as they did not have the vote right.

However, he gained support from Hispanic-American those close to undocumented people. According to New York Times report, 71% of Hispanic-American voted for him. Attention is currently focused on future moves of Obama administration.

In contrast to sign of improvement of undocumented immigrant in the U.S., Japan’s situation is getting worse. On July 9, 2012, foreign resident registration system was abolished, due to the revision of the immigration law. Legal residents get “resident card”, meanwhile, illegal residents cannot gain it. There is fear that undocumented residents become lack of access to essential administrative services without public identification. Also, it will become more difficult for them to find employment. A Ministry of Justice view these detriments as natural result because law revision is to regulate illegal stay.

It is surprising to see the difference about policy toward undocumented people between the United States and Japan. Even though America is nation of immigrant and Japan is not, Japanese policy seems to me too harsh for those people. Illegal residents in Japan are undeniably labors who prop up the Japanese economy. Therefore, Japanese government should offer minimum services (education to medical treatment and social insurance).


27 November, 2012. Education Week. “Undocumented Youths Will Not Be Deported”.

7 November, 2012. New York Times. “A Record Latino Turnout, Solidly Back Obama and Wield Influence”.

6 July, 2012. The Japan Times. “New Rules Put Scare Into Illegal Immigrants”.

Does the DREAM Act bring benefits to America?

Kaori Isobe

On August 1, 2001, the U.S. Senate introduced American legislative proposal which is called the DREAM Act, stands for “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors”. It gives opportunities to get the permanent residency in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants who suit requirements. There is a serious background to come up this bill.

In the United States, there are 11.5 million of undocumented, illegal immigrations in 2011. And about 20% of undocumented immigrants are under 18 years old. They were born in the U.S. or they came to the U.S. from other countries. However, their parents illegally came to the U.S., therefore they are also illegal residence in the U.S. It means that they don’t have the U.S. citizenship and nationalities, even they look like totally American, such as they live their most entire lives in the U.S. and they speak English, have American way of thinking and so on. However, due to migration law, they cannot go to colleges, and have a lot of difficulties to find jobs. Also, they cannot get identifications such as ID card. To come to the U.S. is not their choices. They are forced unstable lives without choice.

This bill is not approved because the Republican Party rejected. However, as of November 2012, 11 states have their own DREAM Act, for example in New Mexico, California, New York and other states, undocumented immigration who meet requirements, are eligible to pay in-state tuition for colleges and universities at New Mexico. It seems to have been improved. But in fact, it is said difficult to pass this law because of political situation of recent days. So, let suppose that this bill would be passed, this DREAM Act would be able to bring benefits for America?

In my opinion, as long as I have studied, I would say YES. There are two reasons.

One of them is that if the DREAM Act would give opportunities to get the permanent residency for undocumented immigration, a huge economy impact would be occurred in the U.S. in a good way. According to a video from “”, an average of 30-years old Mexican immigrant woman who graduated from college pay more than $5,300 in taxes, then at the same time, it costs the government less $3,900 in taxes. Then, total annual fiscal contribution would be $9200 per person.  It means that the DREAM Act would be able to bring a good fiscal influence. Furthermore, if immigrants would be able to get legal residency and get legal jobs, economy in the U.S. would be better because they would be able to buy stuff they want. So, influence on economy is one of benefits.

The other one is that undocumented immigrations’ talents would become a huge impact on education and research field. Because of migration act, many undocumented immigrations who have great record have to give up to go going to college or higher institution. However, if the DREAM Act would be passed, undocumented migrants would be able to go to college, then they would be learn and some of them would be specialists as American do. Do not desert their abilities. Also, I think every child has right to get education. The society have responsibilities to get children have education not only at high school, but also at college and universities if they want to go. So, this is another benefit that I’ve considered.

However, there are some criticisms. For example, this act would give unfairness to legal immigration parents and children because they have to pay full tuition, but on the other hand, undocumented immigrations can get scholarship to go to college.  The other is that this act would encourage and reward illegal immigration. Also, if injured accidentally during the 2-year military service which is one of the requirements, the DREAM Act applicant cannot get permanent residency.

As a conclusion, whether the DREAM Act would be passed or not, I think there are some aspects that the society relies on immigration, which means that immigration do what American usually do not, such as 3D jobs, house keeper, and so on. Immigration is one of important thing for the society. Therefore immigrant problem should be considered seriously, and deeply in many ways. I hope everything will be better for undocumented people who are forced to have unstable lives without their own choices.


Dream act info

Undocumented shadows – A dream act infographic