This is a tough one because I can see both sides of the debate.
The opposition's viewpoint:
An illegal alien is an illegal alien. And when they migrate to this country and have children only to take advantage of the many privilages (i.e., "loopholes") in our immigration laws to gain access to the very privileges nationalized or natural born citizen are rightly entitled to, it undermines the rights given to legal citizens. But then there's the other side...
When I think about the DREAM Act, I also think about Won Kim Ark's parents, how they migrated to this country, were positive contributors to the community where they lived and other than the limits placed on them under the Chinese Exclusion Act, could have become naturalized U.S. citizens. For those unfamiliar with this landmark SC case, their son was born in the U.S. soon after his parents migrated here. Still, he would be classified as an "anchor baby" today. Nonetheless, the issue here is "should an individual brought to this country by his or her parents, having been a 'resident alien' and, therefore, a positive contributor to society having broking no laws, obtained atleast a high school education and is willing to join this country's military be denied U.S. citizenship upon serving honorably?"
Throughout this nation's history from as far back as the Civil War (and quite possibly even further), this nation has afforded foreignors and non-citizens (slaves) the right to citizenship if they served honorably and faithfully in our armed services. There were caveats, of course, but our Immigration and Nationalization laws do provide a pathway to U.S. citizenship for foreignors who served during wartime. (See
INA 1440 for details) The only question here is should a resident alien under the age of 16 who has caused no trouble, obtained an education (because ESL and other measures are helping to make this young person a viable member of society by breaking down that language barrier) and is
willing to serve in our military with honor in peace time and in war be granted a faster path (or direct path) toward U.S. citizenship?
Sidenote: Personally, I think this issue should be made part of immigration reform and not be attacked to another measure that deals with aspects of our military (i.e., appropriations or cost of living allowances), but as a whole as part of immigration reform I would not have a problem with it only because our nation would not be allowing anyone to come into the military for the purpose of gaining U.S. citizenship. They'd essentially be selection "the best and the brightest resident alien youths" who would then take what they've learned (perhaps even going on to college) and putting their education and that American "can-do spirit" that's been positively cultivated and "repaying America" by all it has given to him or her. So, for those who see this as a pathway for "illegal Mexicans only" or just any foreign-born individual to gain U.S. citizenship, I think you need to think again on the matter at hand. Furthermore, those who continue to say that the DREAM Act would "reward illegal behavior" are totally misguided here. It's not the parents of this children who would be afforded a pathway to citizenship via serving in our nation's armed forces. It's the children. They had no say in where they were born. And again, only those who have committed no crimes and have graduated high school or college would have any stake in this. Let's try to remember that.