Doubtless there are many Santa Barbarans who were left disappointed, maybe even stunned and bitter, that the DREAM Act did not pass a cloture vote in the Senate last week and failed in this Congress. As a congressional reporter covering immigration and higher education for a Hispanic magazine, I have been following the numerous variations of the DREAM Act in every Congress for the past seven years. The concept is a compelling one. It can be passed. But not in its present form (H.R. 6497).

The reason the DREAM Act didn’t pass in the 111th Congress was that the bill goes way beyond what advocates claim it to be. Many parts of it are excessive, flawed and often misrepresented.

The bill is only 29 pages long. Everyone who wants to opine about the DREAM Act can and should read it first. It is (rather shockingly) easy to see the many wide disconnects between the rhetoric of the bill’s advocates and the reality of the bill. Here are just a few examples:

ADVOCATES OFTEN SAY: The DREAM act will legalize young undocumented children brought in by their parents.

THE BILL STATES: There is nothing in the bill about the benefit “aliens” (the term used throughout the bill) having to be brought into the United States by their parents.

ADVOCATES: The children who will qualify have been long-term residents of the United States and (many if not most) have only known life in the United States.

BILL: (Sec.4 (1) (A and F) “The alien must have been physically present in the United States for a continuous period of not less than five years and was younger than 16 years of age on the date the alien initially entered the United States ... and is younger than 30 years old when applying.”

NOTE: In other words, they can be teenagers when they come; in many Central and Latin American countries, the 15th birthday (the quincinera) is considered to be the beginning of adulthood.

ADVOCATES: Qualified students must be of good moral character (ie: law abiding)

BILL: (Sec.4(C)(iv)): Aliens qualify who have not been convicted of any offense punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of more than one year ... or three or more offenses ... each punishable for an aggregate of 90 days or more.

NOTE: In other words, beneficiaries qualify even if they have had several serious convictions for law-breaking.

ADVOCATES: To qualify, beneficiaries must be a high school graduate.

BILL: (Sec.4(D)(ii)) The alien has earned a high school diploma or obtained a general education development (GED) certificate in the United States.

NOTE: A GED may be completed online by anyone, at any age, any time, anywhere and in Spanish or other languages; many educators do not consider a GED to be equivalent to a high school diploma.

ADVOCATES: Beneficiaries are the best and brightest college graduates.

BILL: (Sec.4,(1)(D)(i)): “Alien has been admitted to a U.S. institution of higher education.”

NOTE 1: There is nothing in the bill requiring attendance, completion or graduation from college in order for the illegal alien to obtain a conditional five-year work permit under the DREAM Act.

NOTE 2: However, to qualify for a second five-year work permit/deportation waiver, the alien has to have “completed at least two years in good standing in a bachelor’s or higher degree college program or have served two years in the armed forces.” (Sec.5((1)D) There is nothing in the bill about the alien having to graduate from college even after 10 years on a work permit, at which time the DREAM Act beneficiary can get a green card, (Sec.6(b)(2) — the only permit that leads to citizenship.

Underlying almost every criticism is that the DREAM Act would give extraordinary preferential treatment and benefits to some 1 million illegal immigrants that legal immigrants in the United States do not qualify for. For instance, most children of legal temporary immigrants (doctors, researchers, high-tech workers) often are here six or more years but aren’t allowed to work or get permanent residency. But illegal immigrants who have only been here five years can.

Also, permanent legal immigrants in the United States must risk their lives for three years in military service to get expedited citizenship, when illegal immigrants under the DREAM Act need only serve two years. Illegal immigrants get an adjustment of status to a work visa for a fee of (only) $525 (Sec.4(4), when lawyer costs for legal immigrants to change their limited work status to a green card costs thousands of dollars and is not guaranteed.

Opponents of this DREAM Act often asked “Why now”? Why should an estimated million-plus adult illegal immigrants suddenly be eligible for jobs under the DREAM Act at this time when almost 15 million Americans are unemployed?

But the most serious charge of the DREAM Act as it is presently written is that it will encourage even more illegal immigration. Indeed with the generous age qualifications, the lack of specific document verifications or even an English-language requirement, the easy educational requirements, hardship exceptions, no review for seven years, no enforcement provisions, and only a potential fine for falsehoods (Sec. 9), fraud is not only likely but probably inevitable. After all, why would any clever youthful immigrant from anywhere in the world bother to go through the extremely difficult process of getting a legal work permit to the United States, when the DREAM Act makes it so easy to obtain one by claiming illegal entry before age 16 and getting a GED online?

A DREAM Act that truly reflected the rhetoric of advocates could probably pass in the 112th Congress. Such a DREAM Act would provide probable citizenship for those who really were brought into the country illegally at an early age (under age 8 most likely). They would have attended U.S. elementary and secondary schools continuously, graduated with a high school diploma and no criminal record of any kind, could demonstrate a genuine “natural attachment” to the United States and complete fluency in English. Such requirements could be easily verified. Fraud would be almost impossible. DREAM Act benefits would go to the truly deserving small child illegal immigrant only. The numbers would not overwhelm our colleges, immigration system and legal work force.

Failure of the DREAM Act is a healthy reminder for the passionate advocates of illegal immigrants to always keep two questions in mind: Are their demands fair to legal immigrants and American workers? Will they encourage more illegal immigration?

While almost all Americans are compassionate about the plight of particularly young illegal immigrants, most can not tolerate preferential treatment for illegal immigrants that undermines our respect and enforcement of laws (including immigration law), discriminates against foreign nationals who are trying to come into the country legally, and toughens the opportunities of American workers desperately looking for jobs. December’s DREAM Act failed because it violated all of these principals.

— Peggy Sands Orchowski, who lived in Santa Barbara for more than 40 years, is the credentialed congressional reporter for the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education in Washington, D.C., and author of Immigration and the American Dream: Battling the Political Hype and Hysteria. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from UCSB.