Passed One-Man DREAM Act Today

Today, was the two-year anniversary of the failure of DREAM Act to pass Senate.

Today, I helped one of our clients, Victor Chukwueke, obtain permanent residency through a private immigration bill, which sailed through the House, after being passed by the Senate in July.

Victor has an exceptional story that has been well-documented in various news media outlets. He even has a website dedicated to his hope to attend medical school.

S. 285, a bill for the relief of Sopuruchi Chukwueke, is the only private immigration bill to pass Congress in this session of Congress, making it the only immigration bill to pass this session of Congress. It is truly a one-person DREAM Act, only much better in terms of relief since the green-card that Victor will obtain won’t be conditional.

While I will eventually share lessons in “How to Enact a Private Bill” at some point in the near future, I suppose the lesson of the day is never to give up hope. Victor, brought here at the age of 15 to undergo life-saving medical treatments, was persistent in his efforts to obtain permanent immigration relief. He didn’t have ties to the immigration non-profit industrial complex, but he did have some exceptional people rooting for him. And most importantly, Victor has had Senator Carl Levin’s (D-MI) phenomenal staffers who pushed for his bill and an immigration counsel who cared enough to help him out pro-bono during the probing Committee investigations into his background.

When the dust settles, I look forward to helping Victor obtain his actual green card and becoming a fine doctor.