January 24, 2012

SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP! DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

From the film Starship Troopers.

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The DREAM Act, a bill that was once supported by a number of Republican moderates, has become toxic for ambitious GOPers ever since it was embraced by President Obama. The latest iteration of the proposal would provide a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants brought to the US as children if they’re planning to graduate from college or join the military, provided they meet strict behavior requirements over a decade. It failed to clear the Senate during the 2010 lame-duck session.

During Monday night’s debate, however, the Republican consensus shifted just a smidgen to the left, as both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney endorsed the idea of a military-only DREAM Act, an idea once embraced by their fallen rival Rick Perry.

“If you live in a foreign country, and you are prepared to join the American military, you can, in fact, earn the right to citizenship by serving the United States and taking real risk on behalf of the United States,” Gingrich said. “That part of the DREAM Act I would support.”

“I would not sign the DREAM Act as it currently exists,” Romney agreed, “but I would sign the DREAM Act if it were focused on military service.”

Gingrich has signaled support for the military-only idea before, while Romney has previously rejected the DREAM Act wholesale. Still, Romney also once supported George W. Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform plan, so you never really know what he’s going to say. And Romney’s made it clear he’s still on board with forcing the parents and spouses of these prospective veterans to “self-deport” if they happen to be undocumented. 

The DREAM Act is premised on two basic arguments: Children should not be punished for the sins of their parents, and it’s absurd for the United States to jettison potential high skilled workers who are not to blame for their own undocumented status. The military-only DREAM Act treats military service as a kind of punishment and levies a price for citizenship that neither Republican candidate was himself willing to pay. 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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