So what does everyone think of this whole DREAM Act stuff? As a son of once illegal immigrants, I am a huge defender of immigrants and their plight. At the same time, this whole DREAM act thing, I just can't get behind it. If you're illegal, you're illegal end of story. Why should you be anymore special than the guy who cuts my grass? Because you're studying in college? I feel bad for them, but at the same time you're breaking the law.
One of the biggest issues during my little country's Parliament elections was the issue of immigration, legal or otherwise, being out of control and essentially displacing the local population by being granted managerial positions, places in top tertiary education centers (to which they excel in I'll admit) and housing and so on.
This is especially dangerous for a guy like me, a mix of two NOW-minorities and part of a religion viewed as backward and extremist to deal with. In the 80s-90s, the ruling party espoused the 'Learn English' campaign and vehemently believed that the mastery of the English language would be important for future generations. Thus the official National Language which is Malay (despite the country being majority Chinese even back in the day) was no longer promoted even though all official Acts passed in Parliament are first drafted in Malay (more symbolism than anything). Hence while most minorities speak both English and their native language, the bigger criteria for employment back then was good spoken English.
These days, with the Chinese economy growing strong and essentially shaping the economic policies for most countries in the ASEAN realm, the ruling party was singing a new tune and Mandarin was now the focal language, either to attract more mainland Chinese investors or to make things easier to Chinese immigration to the country. A main criteria for most work places now is bilingual skills: English and...Mandarin. Which needless to say leaves a lot of us ***** out of luck. It isn't so bad yet but there was a time where the Malay population of the country stood at about 23% but now edges closer to 19%. The local Chinese population isn't exactly thrilled either. These PRCs (People's Republic Chinese) mostly converse in mainland Mandarin and most locals prefer speaking a mix of dialect and Mandarin.
Fears of Sinicization are abound, the minorities already feeling the pinch of higher numbers of unemployment and alienation by the majority who are also coping with the larger numbers of PRC immigration to the country.
Look to Europe and you'll see immigration fears stemming from Islamophobia, the belief that Northern African immigrant to these countries are slowly trying to displace the local population (either through alleged terrorism or a population explosion) despite these communities being mired in poverty, crime and low standards of living supposedly attributed to their backward culture and Islamic belief.
Immigration is a pretty difficult thing to argue for or against. I'm not happy that a job that I'm qualified for can't be given to me because I can't speak Mandarin especially since I was a by-product of the ruling party's previous policies (I scored A1 in my GCE 'O' Levels English) but I suppose I have to either adapt or be left behind. Not a lot of people can accept that though. Why should I let a foreigner who wasn't even born here take my place in schools, take my job and later let him/her be granted citizenship to better integrate them into the local society?
I know I'm having a hard enough time doing it myself. (FAFSA have my babies 
