Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, is pushing tough for the passage of the Dream Act. Here’s why it really is great for entrepreneurs.
In his inauguration speech Monday, President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to pass legislation that will make it less difficult for immigrants–especially these who wish to produce businesses–to thrive in the United States.
“Our journey is not complete till we find a far better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of chance,” Obama stated.
But immigration reform won’t come simple, and that is why Laurene Powell Jobs right now launched TheDreamIsNow.org, an on-line petition supporting the Dream Act, a bill that would grant a path to citizenship to undocumented young men and women who enroll in college or join the military. The internet site characteristics hundreds of young, American-educated undocumented immigrants explaining how citizenship would enhance their lives. At some point, Powell Jobs and Davis Guggenheim–a filmmaker who’s also functioning on the project–program to use these self-shot videos to compose a documentary about the need to have for immigration reform.
Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs–whose very own biological father was a Syrian immigrant–has rallied behind youth causes for more than a decade. In 1997, she founded College Track, a non-profit that assists underprivileged young folks in the college application approach. Twenty percent of these students are undocumented.
“There required to be a demystification–to place a face to these men and women, to hear the individual stories,” Powell Jobs told Yahoo News. “They’re our children’s buddies. They are individuals we know. This is a massive national dilemma that needs resolution.”
The Dream Act has bounced about Congress because its formation in 2001. While it has has received bipartisan support, the act has floundered in Congress. The closest it came to enactment was December 2010, when the Home of Representatives passed it. But then it failed to reach the 60-vote minimum in the Senate.
The Powell Jobs initiative does not deal exclusively with entrepreneurs, but a passage of the Dream Act would be a step in the correct direction for young, ambitious founders who were born abroad and lack the needed documents to incorporate their firms.
“The documentary becomes a living, breathing petition,” Guggenheim told Yahoo. “These ‘Dream’ers are placing almost everything on the line. When they come out like this, they are saying, ‘I’m prepared to risk it all for what I think.'”
