(Editor's note: The following letter was sent to members of the Highline School Board.)

Re: "Highline Schools endorse a DREAM for students who are undocumented," Highline Times, September 26, 2007.

The resolution passed by this school board September 19 was a shameless act, defying 200 years of immigration policy intended to manage the legal transition of immigrants into the U.S., and an insult to relatives before us who came to America by legal means seeking a way out from oppression, not a hand out.

The DREAM Act is a FRAUD, instigated by Senator Dick Durbin after the defuncked amnesty bill last month, and is nothing more than amnesty for ILLEGALS in another wrapper marketed to high schools as a way for students to make it to college; a legislative feel-good give-a-way program for children who might otherwise have to pay for the immigration laws broken by their parents.

Fortunately the DREAM Act did not see the light of day, as Senator McConnell filed cloture on the [Department of Defense] authorization bill it was attached to. Had it passed and been signed into law it would have allowed the estimated 2 million ILLEGAL immigrant children access to citizenship and estimated as only a portion of illegal aliens, up to age 30, who would be qualified for legal status. All without having to be fingerprinted or undergo a background security check.

But far more ominous would be the right of those children to petition for chain migration for their parents, leading eventually to their aunts, uncles, etc. far exceeding the 20 million illegal aliens currently in our country. This is CALLED AMNESTY without the traditional legal controls that have insured this country against disease, and the criminal intent of people entering the USA.

The School Board's consent for this proposed Amnesty Bill is nothing less than subversion to undermine due process, as is the State's consent to allow illegal aliens state college enrollment, and for the City of Seattle to identify itself as a sanctuary for illegals.

You cannot selectively choose to enforce or disregard the law for your own interests. As a board member responsible for policies, which guide our youth, this assembly has a duty to invoke and maintain the highest moral and ethical standards under the law.

Fred Novota

Burien