Rubio's immigration push a potential lift for GOP

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/17...-lift-for-gop/


Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's push for a Republican version of immigration legislation looks like the answer to the election-year prayers of the GOP — and Mitt Romney.

Rubio — telegenic son of Cuban exiles and potential vice presidential pick — is pulling together a bill that would allow young illegal immigrants to remain in the United States but denies them citizenship, an initial step in the drawn-out, divisive fight over immigration policy and the fate of the 11 million people here illegally.

The freshman senator calls his evolving legislation a conservative alternative to the DREAM Act — the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors measure. That Democratic-backed bill, which is overwhelmingly popular with Hispanics, would provide a pathway to citizenship to children in the United States illegally if they attend college or join the military. The measure came close to passage in December 2010 but has languished since then.

"We have to come up with an immigration system that honors both our legacy as a nation of laws and also our legacy as a nation of immigrants," Rubio told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

An immigration plan from Rubio, the GOP's best-known Hispanic, could help Republicans make some headway with the fastest growing minority group and its 21 million eligible voters, many concentrated in the contested presidential battleground states of Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado.

Democrats maintain a significant political advantage with Hispanics, numbers that were only strengthened by the harsh rhetoric from Republican presidential candidates in this year's primary. Hispanics overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama over Republican presidential nominee John McCain, 67-31 percent, in the 2008 presidential race and they favored Democratic congressional candidates 60-38 percent in 2010, according to exit polling. A Pew Research Center survey out Tuesday showed Obama with a solid edge over Romney among Hispanic registered voters, 67-27 percent.

It's a reality the likely Republican presidential nominee clearly recognizes.

"We have to get Hispanic voters to vote for our party," Romney told a private fundraiser in Florida on Sunday in which he insisted the GOP needs an alternative to the DREAM Act. He warned that a significant number of Hispanics backing Obama "spells doom for us," according to NBC News.

Rubio, who notably called on his party to tone down the anti-immigrant talk earlier this year, is working on a plan that would allow young illegal immigrants who came to the United States with their parents to apply for non-immigrant visas. They would be permitted to stay in the country to study or work, could obtain a driver's license but would not be able to vote. They later could apply for residency, but they would not have a special path to citizenship.

Rubio said he has not talked to the Romney campaign about his plan but definitely would. "He's our nominee and I think it's important for him to feel comfortable with and be supportive of whatever endeavor we pursue," the senator said.

The 40-year-old freshman lawmaker is looking at unveiling his bill in the coming weeks. The early outlines have drawn interest and skepticism from pro-immigration groups. Rubio's political motivation also has been questioned, especially since congressional Republicans and Democrats say legislation as ambitious as immigration is unlikely to be done seven months from the election.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/17...#ixzz1sKqnlIRV

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., signaled Tuesday that Rubio's effort has little chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, telling reporters that he won't accept an alternative that stops short of providing a path to citizenship.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/17...#ixzz1sKr8oC4m


This really sucks if Reid and his buddies try to block this bill....it will be such a shame and a disappointment.

But yet as I have been saying since the beginning, it'd be better to pin hopes on something else. This bill will not pass, I'm fairly certain now. Even if it does clear congress(which is now a near impossibility) it would have to clear Obama who has already signaled he opposes this as well. The hopes on this bill have no foundation. My guess is again that the dream act passes in 2014.

The bill is dead before it even arrives great!!!

Let's not jump to conclusions just yet. The bill isn't even introduced yet. Maybe for now we can email and call Reid to let him know that something is better than nothing.


While Reid waits for HIS WAY TO PASS....were the ONES SUFFERING.

We need to get that message across to him somehow. I respect the guy, but he needs to be understanding of our situation as well.


We just can't afford to wait while both parties duke it out.

Reid won't care(if he's like most politicians, which he seems to be). He doesn't care about our sufferings, again they don't care about us. This is a game. If he supports the GOP dream act, traction goes to the GOP and he loses a bit of prestige. If he vetoes it, he practically loses nothing. Don't you think those repub senators and those five dem senators who vetoed this bill in december of 2010 got plenty of e-mails and protests? They just don't care. Effort would be better expended on something else. This bill, like I have been raising the point for weeks now, will simply not happen, and when you get to the point where even DICK DURBIN is against this, then you pretty much see the logical endpoint of my arguments.

It's more or less both parties fault really. I've said it before, but this bill maybe has a slim, minuscule chance that it will pass in the House. That's before Rubio and Boehner begging their Tea Party lunatics to vote when not even half of their own base will likely support this bill.

If it doesn't even have the support for even the GOP base, then this bill is already dead before Democrats even have a chance to vote.

If Republican DA passes, I shall s**k Republican's d**k forever.

Look guys, this doesn't mean we should give up. I say we try....at least in the end we can have the nerve to say we tried to do something to help.

And that's why the Dems will never vote this bill into law, because of people like you getting the right to vote and then turning it against them just simply the GOP authored the bill. Same logic for the repubs.