Military officials have pushed for DREAM Act in past

A slew of Republican senators have come out against Sen. Harry Reid's plan to attach the DREAM Act to a defense authorization bill to be voted on next week. Reid's GOP critics say that yoking the defense bill to the DREAM legislation — which would erect a path to citizenship for immigrant children who've entered the country illegally, provided they enroll in college or serve in the military — needlessly politicizes the defense-bill debate. The military spending package is one of the sole pieces of legislation bickering Republicans and Democrats manage to pass year after year.

At one time, the DREAM Act (whose feel-good acronym stands for "Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors") had broad bipartisan support. But now, even former Republican co-sponsors of the measure contend that it shouldn't be tacked on to the defense bill.

"Democrats are trying to check a box with Hispanic voters at the expense of our men and women in uniform," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Politico. "It's very unfortunate they are planning to use the defense bill in such a fashion." Graham had formerly been a pivotal supporter of immigration reform in the Senate.

Meanwhile, two former sponsors of the DREAM Act, GOP Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both of Utah, have said they now oppose the measure. And Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain has threatened to filibuster the defense bill if it contains language that will repeal the military's ban on openly gay soldiers, or the DREAM Act.

In reality, though, passing the DREAM Act has long been a military recruiting priority, making the argument that it has nothing to do with defense somewhat suspect. Andrea Nill at the left-leaning blog the Wonkroom points out that the Department of Defense included the DREAM Act as a strategic recruiting goal for this fiscal year. The undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness under President Bush testified to Congress in 2006 about the measure's importance to the military's recruiting efforts.

Stewart Lawrence at the Guardian writes that the military is "starved for fresh recruits" and that the Pentagon has been "lobbying behind the scenes for DREAM's passage."

A Department of Defense spokeswoman says it's "pre-decisional" and they do not yet have a comment.

A new analysis by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, found that a little more than 800,000 people would qualify for the program if the measure is passed — down from earlier estimates of 2 million. The DREAM Act does not allow participants to be eligible for lower in-state college tuition rates.

(Photo: Sen. Lindsey Graham/AP)