Immigration Enforcement Won't Shift If DREAM Fails

WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration officers are unlikely to take extraordinary steps to arrest young people who have publicly revealed they are in the country illegally should the DREAM Act fail in the Senate.

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary John Morton says immigration officers will continue their focus on immigrants who have committed crimes or are a threat to the public. He says they will handle cases of non-criminal immigrants on a case-by-case basis.

The Senate has scheduled a vote Saturday on the DREAM Act which would give provisional legal status to illegal immigrants brought to the country as children. The House approved the bill last week. Many young illegal immigrants have been pressing Congress to pass the bill in public demonstrations.