Undocumented ‘dreamers’ hold mock graduation to protest immigration policy

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WASHINGTON — With only three more weeks for Congress to pass immigration reform, undocumented students from around the country are mobilizing in Washington to turn up the heat on lawmakers.

The protesters are celebrating a mock graduation, picketing the Capitol and holding sit-ins in the offices of legislators, representing the 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high school every year.

The students call themselves ‘dreamers’ in support of the Dream Act, a bipartisan bill that would allow students who arrived in the United States before the age of 16 a path to citizenship through military service or 2-year colleges. Congress is scheduled to go on recess in about three weeks and, with an election in November, is unlikely to take up a controversial immigration reform vote when it returns.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., co-sponsored the bill 10 years ago and spoke to the gathered students saying, “This is the time to pass the Dream Act!”