Whereas, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) is a proposed federal legislation that was introduced in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in March 26th, 2009, and

Whereas, the DREAM Act would allow undocumented immigrants who have proof of arriving in the United States before age of 16, proof of residence in the United States for a least five (5) consecutive years since their date of arrival in compliance with Selective Service, must be between the ages of 12 and 35 at time of bill enactment, must have graduated from an American high school or obtained a GED, must have good moral character, and will graduate from a two-year community college, or complete at least two years of a four-year college degree, or have served for two years in the United States military a path to legal permanent resident status, and

Whereas, the National Immigration Law Center has shown that the DREAM Act will dramatically reduce dropout rates in high school among foreign-born students, increase tax revenues and reduce government expenses, allow thousands of young workers to join the legal workforce and move out of an illegal cash economy where no tax revenues are collected, and

Whereas, undocumented immigrants represent less than 2% of all high school graduates and thus will not be in a position to significantly affect access to higher education for other high school graduates, and

Whereas, the DREAM Act would not create any incentives for new undocumented immigrants due to the age restriction for the DREAM Act of being under 15 when entering the United States, and being between the ages of 12 and 35 when the DREAM Act passes, and

Whereas, the DREAM Act has been sponsored and/or endorsed by a number of organizations, ranging from the AFL-CIO, AFCSME, American Jewish Committee, Arab American Institute, Amnesty International, and over 900 other organizations, and

Whereas, most recently, the DREAM Act has been endorsed by technology company Microsoft Corporation, who noted in a letter to Representatives Berman and Diaz-Balart that the passage of the act was essential to "our nation's competitiveness and success to nurture the talent we have and to incorporate bright, hardworking students in to the workforce to become the next generation of leaders in this country", and

Whereas, the Chancellor of University of California, Berkeley, Robert J. Birgeneau has publicly supported the Act and has urged President Barack Obama to pass the DREAM Act, as reported both in the Daily Californian and ABC News, and

Whereas, the support of the Chancellor of UC Berkeley has both created great momentum for the DREAM Act in Congress and has caught the attention of the national media,

Let it therefore be resolved that that the Associated Students of the University of California at Irvine request that Chancellor Michael Drake and President Mark G. Yudof consider the DREAM Act as leaders in higher education and within the UC System, & publicly endorse and support the DREAM Act.