DREAM Act vote in the U.S. House will take place next week

As local and national pro-immigrant groups held actions to demand Congress pass the DREAM Act, the U.S. House of Representatives delayed the vote on the legislative act until next week.

The UPI reported today:

A vote on a bill to give some young illegal immigrants a chance at legal residency in the United States won’t come before next week, a congressman said.

Democrats “ran out of time” this week so the DREAM Act won’t make it to the House Rules Committee until next week, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., told The Hill.

In Miami religious leaders, students and pro-immigrant groups who support the DREAM Act held events throughout the week calling on Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., to vote to pass the bill.

In a press release the Florida Immigrant Coalition stated:

The DREAM Act is currently at the doors of Congress waiting to be voted during the Lame-Duck session. The hopes of undocumented youth are growing thanks to open bipartisan support and important endorsements nationwide. However, FL Senator LeMieux hasn’t shown his support to what would mean a significant opportunity for Florida’s future.

Undocumented students and allies will rally in Miami and Orlando simultaneously asking Senator LeMieux to express publicly his position on the DREAM Act.

The Miami Herald reported on Thursday:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano lobbied for the DREAM Act Thursday saying immigration enforcement will be improved if Congress approves the bill that would legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented students brought here illegally by their parents when they were children.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have warned they will not vote to pass the DREAM Act. In a letter released by Politico, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., wrote, “I am disappointed to learn that Democratic leadership plans to attempt passage of the DREAM Act once again – and to so in a fashion as reckless as the legislation itself.”

Last week Sessions released a list with misleading information on the legal and economic impact of the DREAM Act.