U.S. Senator Richard J. Durbin was a keynote speaker at this year’s Equity in Action conference. The topic for this year was Equity in Action conference. After an introduction by President Hahs, Senator Durbin took the podium.
He began with a story about a young immigrant woman. This was a young wife with three children coming to America to meet her husband. This woman was Senator Durbin’s grandmother. Senator Durbin then went through and made his positions clear on Education, Healthcare, and Immigration Reform stating, “We are a nation of immigrants.”
Protesters interrupted at that point. Signs that read “Exporting Latino Soldiers, Deporting Latino Families” were held up high by students protesting Senator Durbin’s legislation, the Dream Act. “This is America and you are entitled to free speech … but don’t rewrite my record,” Durbin continued.
Public Safety arrived and led the students to the sides of the stage. Throughout it all, Senator Durbin continued on with him speech describing his Dream Act. The very Act the students were protesting.
The Dream Act is a way for students to have legal status and have a chance to become citizens. It was created six years ago and still has not been passed. Senator Durbin stressed that anyone trying to become a citizen through the Dream Act would be subject to tough scrutiny. The criteria to the Dream Act is that anyone applying must have arrived in the United States before they reached 16 years of age, have lived here for 5 years, have graduated from high school, and have good moral character. There are two ways to become a citizen with the Dream Act. The first is to serve in the military for two years. Many people feel that this pressures people to join the military. The second way would be to successfully complete two years of college.
After Senator Durbin’s speech, there was time for questions from the audience. There were those who stated their support for Senator Durbin, those who protested the Dream Act, and just general questions about the Dream Act. The most memorable was Luz Mancera who tearfully thanking Senator Durbin and all his work with the Dream Act because if it had not been for him she would not be here to go to college.