[N7UJJ]

“Immigrants are taking up that space and those funds”
We have room for a whole lot more of smart kids raised in the U.S. It is one of the goals of FIRST As an engineer you probably already know that the majority of Engineering graduate students in the U.S. are international students. Less than half were born here. We have been importing engineers, medical professionals and other occupations for 30 years. Can we afford to not use the smart kids who live down the block? Do we really live in a society where we punish children for their parent’s decisions? My family moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles when I was young. I didn’t want to go, but I was a kid. I go where my parents took me. I had no choice.

Now these kids ARE here and they will marry, they will have children. They have spent their school years reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. They go to our churches and they are even on FIRST teams. This is home. These transplanted kids are now at the age where they will become productive and contribute to our society.

“the answer is not to reward them” Few people in my age group (Vietnam) thought 2 years in the military as a reward. It was a duty, maybe. Working to earn a college degree may have a deferred reward, but most people do not go to college because they think it is a cost of money and time and a lot of work. Young people who want to serve our country in the military or are willing to spend time and money to obtain a college degree are sacrificing a lot and should be encouraged, not discouraged.

I think the DREAM Act is not only the right thing to do, but it makes economic sense at a time when we need more educated people, more innovators, more diverse dialog.

Anyway, my $0.02