The DREAM Act is back, and it’s already dead on arrival. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced the legislation in early December, but this time without his usual Republican partner. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who co-sponsored the DREAM Act for nearly a decade, has pulled his support — and he’s not being shy about why.
“Yeah, there will be no Dream Act,” Graham told NOTUS this week. “Not until you deal with the millions of people here illegally.”
That’s a significant shift for Graham, who was once a key player in comprehensive immigration reform efforts. Back in 2013, he supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Now he’s fully aligned with President Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, even co-sponsoring legislation with Sens. Katie Britt and Ted Cruz to restrict birthright citizenship.
Graham’s explanation? Joe Biden wrecked any chance of compromise by obliterating the border.
“One of the consequences of what Biden did by obliterating the borders is made compromise on illegal immigration much more difficult,” Graham said.
Durbin, for his part, isn’t giving up hope. He’s now working with Sen. Lisa Murkowski as his Republican co-sponsor, and thinks Graham might come around eventually. “Lindsey’s up for reelection, so that creates a little political dynamic,” Durbin said. “He’s been very helpful to me in the past, and I hope if the time comes to vote, he’ll work with us.”
Don’t hold your breath.
Graham has made it clear that his support for the DREAM Act was always contingent on securing the border, so it’s not as if he’s moving the goalposts here. Even with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reporting record-low border crossings as of November, Graham says the real problem isn’t new arrivals — it’s the millions already here, thanks to Joe Biden. “It’s not the border,” he said. “What do you do about the millions of people who came here illegally? We’re not going to do anything on legalization until you get control of the interior problem.”
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The DREAM Act would create a pathway to legal status for so-called Dreamers — illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. Right now, some of them have temporary protection through DACA, the program Obama unilaterally and unconstitutionally created in 2012, after Democrats couldn’t get the DREAM Act through Congress. Obama essentially rewrote U.S. immigration law with his pen and phone, despite acknowledging he didn’t have the power to do it. Trump tried to end DACA in 2017, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that his efforts were procedurally flawed. The justices didn’t weigh in on whether DACA was good policy — they just said Trump didn’t follow the proper steps to kill it.
Even Joe Biden admitted DACA is on shaky legal ground without congressional action. “Only Congress can ensure a permanent solution by granting a path to citizenship for Dreamers that will provide the certainty and stability that these young people need and deserve,” Biden said in 2021. That’s exactly why Durbin is pushing the DREAM Act now. Democrats know DACA could be successfully challenged again in court, and they’re scrambling to codify it into law before that happens.
But with Republicans controlling Congress and Trump in the White House, the DREAM Act has zero chance of passing. Trump opposes DACA and has tried to kill it. The bottom line? The DREAM Act is a political non-starter. Graham’s shift reflects the broader Republican consensus that any discussion of legalization is off the table until border and interior enforcement are addressed. Democrats can reintroduce the bill all they want, but it’s going nowhere.
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