Policy and Politics: Senator Durbin and Education Experts Discuss DREAM Act

Washington, D.C. - Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), the chief sponsor of the DREAM Act (the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act), has placed the bill on the Senate calendar for debate later this week.  A new report shows that, while the benefits of the DREAM Act to individual immigrant students may be obvious, the benefits to society as a whole of a more highly educated, higher income tax-base are substantial.  Leaders from the field of education will comment on the DREAM Act and the benefits it could provide if adopted.

WHAT:          

On the record briefing with Q&A on the DREAM Act, plus a new report on the cost of not educating DREAM Act students

• Listen to the telephonic briefing [1]

WHO:            

• Sen. Richard Durbin, (D-Ill.), introduced the DREAM Act in the U.S. Senate.
• Robert J. Birgeneau, Chancellor, University of California at Berkeley (bio [2])
• Reg Weaver, President, National Education Association (NEA) (bio [3])
• Gov. Bob Wise, President, Alliance for Excellent Education [4] and former governor of West Virginia
• Roberto G. Gonzales, University of California at Irvine, and author, "Wasted Talent and Broken Dreams: The Lost Potential of Undocumented Students [5]" (Immigration Policy Center, October 2007)
• Angela Kelley, Director, Immigration Policy Center (American Immigration Law Foundation), Moderator

WHEN: Tuesday, October 23 at 12:00noon ET

(11:00 a.m. CT/10:00 a.m. MT/9:00 a.m. PT)