New York, NY, December 20, 2010 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed deep disappointment that a minority of senators blocked passage of a bill to allow eligible undocumented youth to apply for legal status.  Action on the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) was halted after the Senate failed to muster the 60 votes needed to end a threatened filibuster.

Robert G. Sugarman, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

We are deeply disappointed that the Senate could not see its way clear to give the most deserving and narrowest group of immigrants -- children who are undocumented through no fault of their own -- a chance to prove their commitment and fulfill their will to contribute to our country.

The minority of 41 Senators who blocked progress by voting "no" failed more than just students seeking fair treatment or the military, civil rights, and business who believe our country will be stronger with their contribution to it.  They failed all of our children by refusing to embrace a future for them that welcomes diversity and equal access to the American dream.

We cannot ignore the role that anti-immigrant rhetoric has played in letting fear trump sound policy solutions.  The climate of bias and hostility toward immigrants that pervades the immigration debate hurts our country and stands in the way of achieving the reform Americans desperately seek to the broken immigration system we now have.  

After this bitter loss, we rededicate ourselves to the quest for comprehensive immigration reform and we call on all leaders to reject dehumanizing rhetoric and to set an example of how immigration policy can be debated respectfully.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.