I have worked to contain youth gangs in Virginia for nearly 20 years. The #1 anti-gang program is called "a job." The most-effective approach is called "education". If you tell kids that they cannot get a legal job or an education, you are making the strongest possible case for gang membership. Your position and even your remarks are gang recruiting tools. If this is not what you intended, perhaps you should reconsider

My grandparents came in thru ellis island, why is there not such a place on the southern border. It would make it easier to allow or deny entry, all other imigrants would be considered illegal and deported. I am also against making children automatic citizens becouse they were born here, I believe at least one parent must be a US citizen in order for the child to be. I also believe you must be a citizen to be eligble to get college tuition help. In short this southern ellis island would become a great goal for people and be proud they were granted this great chance to become a US citizen.

Given your claim to be such an upstanding Christian, I am amazed at your selfish and un-Christian attitude toward people living in and contibuting to our communities.

The DREAM Act is mainly to benefit the children who were brought here as babies, minors, or against their will by their own parents. These are students by parents who sought a better life for them. They did not come on their own choice and they have been denied basic services to better access all this country offers. I have taught high school students who were undocumented. They were great students whose home was and is this country. To deny them access to higher education is wrong. Another piece of this puzzle that people miss int his discussion is the undocumented children who are abused. Social services and the Dept. of Justice many times fail to provide them help. The Supreme Court Decision Plyer v. Doe 457 202 1982 had several reasons to allow undocumented children into the public school system. Three of those apply to these youth accessing Higher Education today: 1) Sheer incapability or lax enforcement of the laws barring entry into this country, coupled with the failure to establish and effective bar to the employment of undocumented aliens, has resulted in the creation of a substantial “shadow population” of illegal migrants – numbering in the millions – within our borders. This situation raises the specter of a permanent caste of undocumented resident aliens, encouraged by some to remain here as a source of cheap labor, but nevertheless denied the benefits that our society makes available to citizens and lawful residents. The existence of such underclass presents most difficult problems for a Nation that prides itself on adherence to principles of equality under the law. 2) The children… “Can affect neither their parents’ conduct nor their own status.” Timble v.Gordon 430 U.S. 762, 770 (1977). Even if the State found it expedient to control the conduct of adults by acting against their children, legislation directing the onus of a parent’s misconduct against his children does not comport with the fundamental conceptions of justice. 3) “Charging tuition to undocumented children constitutes a ludicrously ineffectual attempt to stem the tide of illegal immigration,” at least when compared with the alternative of prohibiting the employment of illegal aliens. It is difficult to understand precisely what the State hopes to achieve by promoting the creation and perpetuation of a subclass of illiterates within our boundaries, surely adding to the problems and costs of unemployment, welfare, and crime. It is thus clear that whatever savings might be achieved by denying these children an education, they ware wholly insubstantial in light of the costs involved to these children, the State, and the Nation. According to the census, students with a college education earn over a million dollars more in the course of their lives compared to those with just a high school diploma. It is in the best interest of taxpayers to help those students who have already proven they 1) Were brought here as minors 2) Have caused no trouble and 3) Have excellent grades, to be allowed to come out from the shadows. This is the "easier" part of dealing with the undocumented population in the USA. It usually takes about $10,000 a year to keep a youth in school and $30,000 to keep him in jail. Lawmakers and the Dept. of Justice have a lot of work to do with the undocumented criminals. So Congressman Forbes, please support the DREAM Act. If the second item in your list requires negotiation to sort out non-criminals from criminals, then do so and approve this legislation.

DREAM Act Now!!! Please vote Yes, the bill clearly says that one would have to have "good moral character" meaning no criminal record. It is not a child's fault to have been brought to this country they can only call home. http://www.nilc.org/immlawpolicy/DREAM/DREAM-correcting-myths-misperceptions.pdf