Volume 20, Issue 1, April 2014 JOURNAL OF FAMILY STUDIES 79 Copyright © eContent Management Pty Ltd. Journal of Family Studies (2014) 20(1): 79–87 DREAMers and their families: A family impact analysis of the DREAM Act and implications for family well-being DUHITA MAHATMYA PHD 1 AND LISA M GRING-PEMBLE PHD New Century College, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA Abstract: Discourse around immigration reform largely centers on economic and national security issues and rarely mentions the well-being of families. This paper applies Family Impact Analysis (FIA) and rhetorical discourse analysis to the congressional hearings, debates, and documents surrounding the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to examine representations of immigrant families and implications for their well-being. Our analysis reveals that while the discourse in the DREAM Act and related congressional documents gives voice to undocu- mented children, it undermines family well-being. In particular, the Act promotes the rights of children over their par- ents, discourages family stability and unity, and impacts family interdependence negatively. Findings suggest that further consideration of FIA, in light of immigration reform efforts, is essential to crafting a policy that supports children and families during periods of transition. Keywords: immigration reform, immigrant families, DREAM Act, family impact analysis, family well-being, family unity I n June 2012, President Barack Obama gar- nered widespread support especially from the immigrant community for his deferred action executive order, which halted the deportation of some young immigrants. Later, the Latino com- munity rallied behind President Obama, argu- ably ensuring his second-term victory in the 2012 US Presidential elections. These events ushered in renewed attention to undocumented immigration and opened a window of oppor- tunity for comprehensive immigration reform (Kingdon, 1995). Amidst national immigration reform discussions, one group of undocumented immigrants (children) garnered bi-partisan sup- port in the form of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Given the salience of immigration in the current political climate, the Act presents a viable initia- tive in the wake of otherwise failed congressio- nal attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the US. However, often overlooked in the immigration and DREAM Act discussions are undocumented immigrant children as members of families. Indeed, immigrant families have rarely been given credence in immigration reform discussions (Glick, 2010; Levasseur, Sawyer, & Kopacz, 2011) as arguments for and against immigration reform typically appeal to US national security and eco- nomic interests (Demleitner, 2004; Flores, 2003; White House, n.d.). Therefore, it behooves family policymakers, scholars, and practitioners to exam- ine how and to what extent family well-being is considered in the DREAM Act. To uncover the representations of immigrant children and families in the DREAM Act and the implications for family well-being in the US, Family Impact Analysis (FIA; Bogenschneider et al., 2012) and rhetorical discourse analysis (Edelman, 1988; Osborn, 1986) were used in the current study. To date, research on immi- grant families has been in legal studies (e.g., Demleitner, 2004; Hawthorne, 2007; Motomura, 1995; Shah, 2009), so an approach integrating FIA and rhetorical discourse analysis is a distinct way to study the subject matter. As we argue, our findings reveal that the DREAM Act gives voice to undocumented children (Garcia, 2006; Morales, Herrera, & Murry, 2011), and simulta- neously silences immigrant families (Flores, 2003; Glick, 2010; Thronson, 2006). In particular, the Act promotes the rights of children over their 1 Correspondence to: Duhita Mahatmya, e-mail: dmahatmy@gmu.edu