The DREAM Act looks dead.  You’ll hear pro-immigrant advocates talk about the fight returning later in the fall, but I don’t see how we can win this fight this year.  Folks in D.C. gave it their best shot by trying to tie the DREAM Act to staffing the military.  If that didn’t work, I don’t see what will. 

The failure of the DREAM Act is symbolic of the crush that immigrants are facing.  On every front, legistlative, regulatory, enforcement, immigrants are feeling the heat.  That won’t change until immigrants themselves organize into a mass movement to challenge the nation to consider what life will be like here if these attacks continue.  Waiting for Washington D.C. advocates to convince Congress to do the right thing won’t win this fight.  Those folks are doing what they think best and they play a valuable role in articulating an immigrants’ rights agenda.  But unless we shake things up in the cities, the D.C. advocates won’t have the muscle to move a pro-immigrant agenda.