By Roy Beck

Open-borders groups say their top priority this spring is to pass the DREAM Act Amnesty for illegal-alien teenagers. They have a massive war-chest and support of most of the leadership elites of the country.

I have some ways you can test a politician to see if he/she is really concerned about those teens, or if the real goal is just to flood as many foreign workers into occupations and neighborhoods as possible. 

The main argument for the DREAM amnesty is that a half-million or so illegal teens and young adults have been in the U.S. a long time and don't really know their home country, and that sending them back would be cruel, especially since it was adults (usually their parents) who made the decisions to break the law in the first place and put these kids into this tough position.

The first problem with the DREAM amnesty in the current economic climate is that the half-million amnestied illegal young adults would compete for scarce jobs. If they are successful, at least in the short-term, a DREAM amnesty could mean that a half-million more Americans would NOT have a job.

Nonetheless, I have no doubt that many immigration enthusiasts are willing to put American young adults out of work in exchange for the amnesty for the illegal-alien young adults. 

The question that we have never been able to get DREAM Amnesty supporters to answer is if they want the amnesty for the illegal-alien teens badly enough that they would be willing to limit all other damage to Americans from the amnesty.

Thus far, it appears that DREAM Amnesty supporters want the amnesty to be as destructive to unemployed Americans as possible.  But don't take my word for it.  Ask every DREAM supporter the following questions.  This test will show what they really want.

TEST FOR SINCERITY OF DREAM AMNESTY SUPPORTERS

• PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION NO. 1:  While the DREAM Amnesty will put a half-million illegal-alien young adults in direct competition with American workers, are you willing to ensure that no other Americans will become unemployed because of the amnesty?

If the answer is YES, that would mean that the amnesty must not extend to anybody other than the specific illegal young adults meeting the criteria. On the other hand, DREAM Amnesties of the past have provided immigration status to all kinds of relatives of the young adults, multiplying the number of potential unemployed Americans three-fold up to six-fold.

• PRACTICAL QUESTION NO. 1:  Are you willing to eliminate Chain Migration categories created in the late 1950s that allow anchor immigrants to bring in adult relatives other than a spouse?  If you are not, the amnestied young adults will be able to bring in their parents, older siblings and eventually leading to even aunts, uncles and cousins, many of whom were guilty of breaking our laws and putting the illegal-alien teens in their current condition in the first place.

The bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform chaired by the late Barbara Jordan concluded that Chain Migration should be eliminated in order to protect the most vulnerable Americans. Are you willing to give up Chain Migration in order to amnesty the illegal-alien young adults?

• PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION NO. 2:  Are you willing to ensure that the DREAM Amnesty does not cause a new rush on the border (and of visa overstays) of people encouraged by the fact that breaking immigration laws truly does get rewarded? 

If the answer is YES, that would mean full implementation of programs to ensure that illegal aliens in the future cannot obtain jobs or taxpayer benefits. Only a clear message that breaking immigration laws will no longer pay will keep the passage of another amnesty from drawing millions more illegal aliens into the country.

• PRACTICAL QUESTION NO. 2:  (a) Are you willing to tie the DREAM Amnesty to a mandatory E-Verify system for every employee in every job?  (b) Will you also include a notification process for multiple workers using the same Social Security number in order to root out identity theft?  (c) And will you delay the permanent implementation of the DREAM Amnesty until the U.S Visit system is fully in place at all points of entry so that everybody crossing our borders can check in and check out and be known by our national computer system if they fail to check out on time?  (d) And are you willing to have the E-Verify system used to confirm legal status before distributing taxpayer benefits in the future?

If you care so much for mainstreaming illegal-alien young adults, surely you are willing to take the above steps to ensure that law-breaking adults in the future won't be enticed to turn their children into illegal aliens while seeking to unlawfully increase their incomes in the United States. Are you?

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Even if all the above provisions are met, a DREAM Amnesty would be harmful to American young adults who are having such a difficult time finding jobs, without having another half-million people competing with them.

But politicians and other leaders who advocate the amnesty -- if they truly are sincere that the illegal-alien young adults are their main concern -- ought to be willing to advocate all the provisions above to limit the damage to Americans.

When you call up the DREAM Amnesty supporters, ask them.

Let me know what you find.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA