Colin Powell Supports the DREAM Act, Thinks Other Conservatives Should Too

In an appearance last Sunday on “Meet the Press,” former Secretary of State General Colin Powell said he favored the DREAM Act, which was proposed as an amendment to the "must pass" defense spending authorization bill this week and failed to make a cloture vote in the Senate today. Powell also urged other moderate conservatives to favor the DREAM Act.

Powell's main argument is that it’s good for America’s long-term economic wellbeing and stability to have a steady flow of educated young people coming into the workforce.

"Without immigrants, America would be like Europe or Japan, with an aging population and no young people coming in to take care of it," he said. "We have to educate our immigrants—the DREAM Act is one way we can do this."

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That's one of the key justifications for the DREAM act—giving immigrant kids who've lived here most of their lives enhanced chances to contribute to this country.

In July, The Brookings Institution’s Darrel M. West urged politicians in a Washington Post editorial to create an immigration policy that brings new talent and educated labor to the United States:

Establish a strong rationale for immigration that's linked to our self-interest in innovation and long-term economic development. In the years leading up to World War II, the United States recruited Europe's top talent for our nuclear program. Scientists such as Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and Edward Teller immigrated to America and played an instrumental role in securing our country's future and developing its nuclear advantage…. The point is to attract more individuals with the potential to enhance American innovation and competitiveness, increasing the odds for economic prosperity and rising living standards for all down the road.

The DREAM act makes similar economic sense, but works with people who already highly Americanized and have been living in the country for years. Why look abroad, when you already have the potential talent at home, waiting to be cultivated?

Kai Wright and Jorge Rivas also point out at Colorlines that the DREAM Act doesn’t just have economic benefits:

It would have been nice to hear Powell, who is the child of Jamaican immigrant parents, talk about immigrants—whether documented or not—as not just workers but people who start businesses and become leaders and fall in love and have families that integrate into society. He did say that we should "treat our immigration population with respect, dignity, and give them a path to citizenship."

The DREAM Act could also provide greater social stability, building stronger communities by allowing families to stay together. Promoting a stronger economy and family values?  It sounds like the kind of thing people on both sides of the partisan divide should be able to get behind.

Braden Goyette is a staff writer for Campus Progress.

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