This is awesome! Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is co-sponsoring the DREAM Act of 2009:

According to Gillibrand, estimates indicate 50,000 to 65,000 students would benefit from the DREAM Act each year.

The Senator says the DREAM Act would create better opportunity for New York's immigrant students in two ways:

First, it would repeal an outdated section of immigration law that discourages states from providing in-state tuition and other higher education benefits to New York students born outside the U.S., and without legal immigration status.

The bill would also allow students who are eligible for the DREAM Act to qualify for conditional permanent resident status which would put them on a path to citizenship upon acceptance to college, graduation from high school or being awarded a G.E.D.

Under this plan, students would have six years to obtain this temporary status, during which the student must have graduated from a two-year college or vocational college, studied for at least two years toward a bachelor's or higher degree, or served two years in the U.S. military. Any student who commits a crime or serious misconduct would not be eligible.

She may have worked for Phillip-Morris, but she's doing the right thing on immigration and the rights of immigrant children and teenagers.

See my other article on the DREAM Act posted at culturekitchen.