By Daniel Weintraub
More than a half million young Californians who are in the country illegally could qualify for legal status under legislation pending in Congress, according to a new study by a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that focuses on immigration issues.
The legislation, known as the DREAM Act, would allow undocumented immigrants to apply for permanent resident status if they are under age 35, arrived in the US before the age of 16, have lived here for at least the last five years and have earned a highs school diploma or GED certificate.
The bill, which has bipartisan support in Congress, is intended to normalize the status of young people who were brought here illegally by their parents as children but have since attended school, graduated and gone onto college or military service.
Immigrants who qualify would first be given conditional legal status, and that conditional status would be removed in six years if they complete at least two more years of school or military serve and maintain “good moral character.”
The study by the Migration Policy Institute concludes that about 2.1 million people would qualify for the path to legal status. Of those, the largest number — 553,000 — reside in California. That’s 26 percent of the total.
Other states with large numbers of potential beneficiaries include Texas (258,000), Florida (192,000), New York (146,000) and Arizona (114,000).
To see the full report, go here.
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