The Dream Act would exclude anyone who has been convicted of “any offense under federal or state law, other than a state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status, that is punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of more than one year; or three or more offenses under federal or state law, other than state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status, for which the alien was convicted on different dates for each of the three offenses and imprisoned for an aggregate of 90 days or more.”

The phrase “other than a state offense for which an essential element is the alien’s immigration status” could excuse a lot of criminal activity. “It would grant status to illegal aliens who have been convicted of felony ID fraud or other crimes that could be considered to be related to their immigration status,” noted Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors tighter restrictions on immigration. “You could say human smuggling, document fraud, benefits fraud, false claims to citizenship, illegal voting, and many other felonies have an essential element that involves immigration status.”