Rubio talks about his dream

Rubio is determined despite naysayers to come up with a Republican version of the Dream Act. While pundits and lawmakers are already racing to embrace or reject it, Rubio told Right Turn in a phone conversation Friday afternoon that there is a lot yet to be determined before he introduces any legislation.

Rubio says to lawmakers and the public: “Don’t approach it as a legalistic matter.” The legal status of this subset of the illegal-immigration population, he suggests, is “akin to refugees. Their plight is not their doing.” He explains, “A non-immigrant visa allows you to get a driver’s license, to pay taxes, to go to college.


Under Rubio’s plan a nonimmigrant visa would be of limited duration and apply only to children brought here under a certain age(Are they going to keep the 15 and under age?) who have been living continuously in the United States, graduated high school and are going to college. It would apply only to past cases (there is no open door to provide incentives to parents to bring children here illegally in the future), and it would exclude those with criminal records

In talking to Rubio it’s clear this is a work in progress with much left to be determined. There is, as yet, no firm estimate of the number of people who this would affect. Among the details to be determined are the age cut-off for people who entered the country and the time period covered by the bill (up to the present day?). Also unclear is how to address the small group that is in the military; Rubio says, “We’re open-minded on that. Right now by executive order you can award citizenship.”

News accounts have portrayed Rubio’s fellow Republicans as signing on or nixing the idea. In fact, that isn’t what has been going on. On the Hill, Rubio says, “They’ve been generally supportive. No one is saying to stop what I’m doing.” No presidential candidate is going to sign onto something that is admittedly not concrete. But Rubio seemed pleased with the reaction from the Romney camp. “I’ve updated them on the concept. They are waiting for details,” he tells me

Rubio says that his time frame for introducing a specific piece of legislation is “certainly not indefinite.” But it’s also clear Rubio doesn’t intend do this in a slap-dash manner. He says that “we don’t want to have more questions than answers when we put something out.

A Rubio Dream Act would shake up the politics of immigration. Those who have been disappointed by the Obama administration's failure to deliver anything but rhetoric and a flimsy lawsuit against Arizona may welcome a bill that makes small but important progress. The White House will have its hands full trying to keep pro-immigration reform activists from jumping ship.

If Rubio is successful he may give Romney and his party their own pathway — this one into the Hispanic community. If electoral politics are about moving the needle in your direction, Rubio’s Dream Act may be a critical part of constructing a winning message and coalition for 2012 and beyond.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...m53T_blog.html

All I can say is that June will be hugely critical, it will define this movement and it will also show us the depths of this bill in all it's glory or flaws. The bill will be released within the same time frame as his book which I guess he is just doing so that it can get the maximum amount of attention possible. The book will be released on June,19,2012. My expectation is that the bill would be released from June,12,2012-June,25,2012, to either capture on the pre or post buzz from the book. Supposedly Rubio has also talked of the dream act in his book. I hope it can be available here on the australian kindle store.

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Good points, he really went that extra mile with those terms. Now I guess any of us can really do is wait a month to see the exact details of this legislation. I think the part that concerns most of us is the cut-off date and the age limit as well as the specific details of the nonimmigrant visas . These three will determine the level of dreamer support.

I hope Durbin and other dreamers involved in talks with Rubio convince him to keep the qualifications in the original dream act( Came here 15 and under and age limit.
35 and below). If it is indeed a compromise, then that shouldn't be a problem at all!! I believe someone explained in the past that for immigration purposes, anyone under the age of 16 is considered a minor. That is why that has never changed since the dream act was introduced in 2001.

We can only hope my friend. Hopefully Rubio treads to convention but remember he does need to sell this to a Republican audience, and they would love it if the age limit alone was tightened. As for Durbin and the other bunch who knows what they'll even be saying in June? We have no idea yet on how far willing they are to bend, I think the two key questions now are how radical or unconventional his proposal will be, and then secondly the reactions by everybody in the beltway. So I think in June we will have a good understanding on if this bill even has a strong chance of passing. I'll personally be observing the house gop, if even they go for this, then everyone else probably will as will.

The more I think about it, the more I think we should embrace Rubio and his plan. I'm not sure whether his motivation is actually to have compassion for our cause or try to win back the Latino vote (maybe he's compassionate but has to use the Latino vote angle to sell it to other Republicans) but this is a lifeline for us and we should jump on it.

I really recommend that we should email him and thank him for his concerns for us and also voice a few of our legitimate concerns - ie. the age cap issue (for me especially being an older dreamer), maybe ask for a "forgiveness clause" for anything we might have done up to this point because of our circumstances (ie. worked under the table, etc.). We can't vote, but it costs nothing to send an email and be polite about it.

It's not a problem until it drags on for another couple of years and all of a sudden you see yourself unqualified while the others shout you down for trying to ask for more.

This is ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS NEWS! WOW! Things are really coming along and again I am very, very, very happy that Rubio has really taken a huge step to help the Dreamers. This really is going to put the Democrats between a rock and a hard place. If the Dems refuse to compromise on any deal with Rubio and other Republicans who MIGHT be on board, Obama can kiss the White House goodbye and Democrat super majority in Congress will be over. But again, everything so far is in the air and we will not see it till it is on paper. So far, I'm a fan of Rubio ( not saying I would ever be a Republican). But man, he gets all the respect from me that he deserves. Keep up the good work Rubio and hurry up with that bill so my friends can travel with me next year to Puerto Rico! Oh P.s....Happy Cinco de Mayo to all the Mexicans!

I hope when he release this bill he holds a press conference and take questions. Some of the questions I have are?

1. Will there be a separate non-immigrant visa category for us?

2. How long will this visa be valid for and can it be renewed?

3. For those who do not have a college degree already, will they be able to work and go to college at the same time with this visa?

4. For those who already have a college degree will they be able to immediately proceed to getting a green card via using the the existing immigration system?