Drawing on personal experience and a "strategic" viewpoint, College President Jim Yong Kim voiced "strong support" for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act in a letter addressed to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. on Monday, Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"There's a personal reason in the sense that I was an immigrant to the United States myself and I became a naturalized citizen when I was 12 years old," Kim said. "I fundamentally believe in the idea that this country has become great and can become greater with the work and the contributions of immigrants."
Allowing undocumented students to gain legal status in the United States also presents economic benefits, Kim said.
"I think we're losing out on a tremendous opportunity for brilliant, creative, innovative people who can help the United States," Kim said.
The Act first introduced in the U.S. Senate in August 2001 would give high school students who illegally immigrated to the United States as children the opportunity to earn permanent residency after serving two years in the military or completing two years at a four-year institution.
A U.S. Senate committee held hearings for the act for the first time on Tuesday, according to Capitol News Connection. The legislation's originally scheduled hearing on Sept. 12, 2001 was canceled due to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama's insistence on a comprehensive immigration reform bill facilitated the act's appearance before the Senate, according to Capitol News.
Kim said he thinks xenophobia has prevented the DREAM Act from previously passing through Congress.
"It's something that eventually goes away, but right now, I think that the fears that people have are all unnecessary," Kim said. "There's a tremendous potential upside that potentially needs the kind of people who become citizens through the DREAM Act."
Kim said he is unsure of his next step in showing his support for the legislation.
"I don't have any plans right now," he said. "But if I can help further, I certainly wait to hear from others who are more in the forefront of supporting the DREAM Act."
Irvin Gomez '14, president of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan at the College, said he would like to see College officials offer additional post-graduate guidance for undocumented students.
"I think Dartmouth should do a better job in making sure those students have something to do after college not just letting them into the school and leaving them on their own," he said.
A group of 12 students planned a 36-hour hunger strike on the Green last November to raise awareness and elicit a more vocal response from the College administration about the DREAM Act, The Dartmouth previously reported.
"I've met a lot of dreamers' over the years," Alan Salas '13 said, explaining that "dreamers" is a colloquial term for undocumented students. "Surprisingly, here, there's some. You would think that Dartmouth doesn't have that. That's not true."
Salas, who helped organize the strike in November, said that many undocumented students feel uninformed about their options.
"I know a lot of students here feel that they don't have the support," Salas said. "Most of the schools don't address this issue."
Undocumented students are not allowed to apply for work permits, fellowships or government grants, Salas said. These limitations prevent students at prestigious institutions from taking advantage of the resources available, he said.
Salas said he is working with students from other schools to organize a "bigger movement" to support the DREAM Act within the Ivy League. The participating students are planning to hold a meeting at Harvard University in October, he said.
Representatives from Durbin's office did not respond to requests for comments by press time.
