Rubio's Republican Dream Act is a Red Herring

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, in an efforts to entice Latin voters away from the democrats and into the Republican hands, has proposed the ultimate immigration “red herring,” an “alternative” to the Dream Act,

Last fall, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act passed the House of Representatives, and garnered the support of a majority in the Senate, but was ultimately defeated when the Senate failed to invoke cloture and proceed to debate following a Republican filibuster.

How the Democrat's Dream Act would work:

• "conditional" status would be granted during the first six years.

• the youth would be required to graduate from a two-year community college or complete at least two years towards a 4-year degree, or serve two years in the U.S. military.

• After the six year period, an youth who met at least one of these three conditions would be eligible to apply for legal permanent resident status.

• During this six year conditional period, these students would not be eligible for federal higher education grants such as Pell grants, but they would be able to apply for student loans and work study.

• If the youth did not meet the educational or military service requirement within the six year time period, their temporary residence would be revoked and they would be removable (deportable).

• They must not commit any crimes other than those considered non-drug related misdemeanors. Being convicted of a felony or drug-related infraction would automatically remove the six year temporary residence status and they would be subject to deportation.

• If the youth met all of these requirements at the completion of the 6-year conditional period, they would be granted permanent residency, and eventually will be eligible for U.S. citizenship.

How would Rubio’s Republican “Dream Act” work?

Last Sunday in a “Fox News Sunday,” interview, Rubio explained that his proposal, which is, as he puts it “ in the works”, would not provide a “special pathway” to citizenship for young people in the country without documentation, but rather a non-immigrant visa that would allow those people to serve in the military or attend college and then later apply for citizenship through the traditional route.

It would have been illuminating had Rubio actually been able to explain how these children would be able to use the “traditional route” to become legal residents and eventually citizens of the U.S.

Under Rubio’s plan, assuming these youths complete college in four years or goes to the military for two years, then what?

Unless these young people find a way to change their status under the current immigration laws, they would again be subject to deportation. To change status would be a practical impossibility unless they graduated college and found an employer willing to sponsor them for an H-1b non-immigrant visa. Those that went into the military, would be in a worse situation, as they would not be able to accept any position that would lead him/her towards permanent residency because, the labor certification process would take four or five years to complete. Current law requires them to be in legal status once the labor certification process has been complete, which according to Rubio proposal could never happen as their visa would expire upon completion of college or discharge from the military.

At the end, a majority of them would find that they have been on the express lane to anywhere but here, unless of course they marry an American citizen. If this becomes the final option, imagine the numbers of fraudulent applications the immigration service would have to uncover.

What Rubio really wants is to create more problems for the undocumented immigrants, while appearing to be pro-immigrant.

Earlier this month, without any prior publication, Rubio introduced a bill aimed at making it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to claim a child tax credit.

Rubio’s stealth technique, was soon discovered by liberal groups and immigrant advocates and now accuse the Florida Republican of hypocrisy, saying he is hurting innocent children at the same time he pushes a Dream Act alternative.

The Center for American Progress, wrote "This attack on the child tax credit appears to be a calculated attempt by Sen. Rubio to demonstrate his commitment to ’legality’ and his willingness to crack down on ’illegal immigrants.’ But in his zeal to burnish his hardline bona fides with conservatives, he would actually take food off the tables of low-income U.S.-citizen kids who are, in every sense of the word, blameless. Even using a political calculator, adding Sen. Rubio’s two proposals together equals hypocrisy."

Rubio efforts to impose stricter rules on child tax credits revolves around his belief that the IRS allowed undocumented workers to collect $4.2 billion in credits. In other words, these undocumented workers should be required pay their share of taxes, but cannot receive the benefits the laws provide for either them or their children.


http://news.jornal.us/article-6540.R...d-Herring.html

I need to see the bill, so I can defend it or reject it. At this point, the proponents and opponents of the Rubio idea are just going in circles.

This is getting VERY VERY boring FFS. We all know what Rubio's and Durbin's Dream Act's would look like. Please please introduce the bill already. If you don't want to pass it its okay but just introduce it early so we can at least have a fighting chance. Seriously Rubio holds the key to our chances. The later he introduces it, the less of a chance we have because soon enough the elections will take over headlines. Romney has already clinched the necessary delegates. Time is running out and I'd hate for DA to go down without a fight. This is the end of the road fellas...gear up because it's going to be tight.

Good article on the comparisons.

Wow...an article that makes a lot of sense.

This has been my concern from the beginning. Seems to me that if this is likely the route of what Rubio proposes, many of us who qualified would end up "overstayers" by the time the expiration date comes. If so, then Rubio is just creating another wave of undocs in the future, and once again, we would be undocumented.


Good point...this happens today too.

But hopefully the actual bill is more sensible than what it seems.

Even if it is not "sensible" in terms of the aforementioned risks, there would still be a chance of achieving our ULTIMATE GOALS. OR, WE CAN ALL BE FUCKING PICKY and SIT ON OUR ASSES WATCHING TIME FLY BY AND WAITING F OR THE PERFECT BILL.

There is no way in hell the original DA will pass now. Forget about it. So, please be willing to consider something that, yes has its risks, but brings us out of the shadows and gives us A CHANCE to become residents and citizens.

Relax dude....we get it....YOU REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE THIS BILL, you'll probably marry it to get a green card. No need to fire your guns at me.

I'm not being picky, but just pointing out my concern, because whether you admit it or not, these concerns exist not just for me, but for other people in the office that could very much lead to the bill's downfall. Who knows, maybe if more of us voices our concerns, the Reps would think twice and consider a more linient approach, because the reality is that their tightened rules have a lot of flaws that they chose to ignore.

YES, it's a chance, and I've considered it since it's the only option we have, but I don't blindfold myself thinking that it's a good bill for all of us.

This article is very misleading. At least about the military portion. Granted we have not seen the actual text of the legislation, one who joins the military is immediately available to apply for Citizenship on their first day of active duty. e.g.

"Under special provisions in Section 329 of the INA, the president signed an executive order on July 3, 2002, authorizing all noncitizens who have served honorably in the U.S. armed forces on or after Sept. 11, 2001, to immediately file for citizenship. This order also covers veterans of certain designated past wars and conflicts. The authorization will remain in effect until a date designated by a future presidential executive order."

Furthermore....

Naturalization at Basic Training

"USCIS and the Army established the Naturalization at Basic Training Initiative in August 2009 to give noncitizen enlistees the opportunity to naturalize when they graduate from basic training. (The Navy joined the initiative in 2010.) Under this initiative, USCIS conducts all naturalization processing including the capture of biometrics, the naturalization interview, and administration of the Oath of Allegiance on the military base so (in most cases) the recruit is able to graduate from basic training as a U.S. citizen."

If this is the case and we can adjust our statuses that quickly, can you imagine the mad rush on the armed forces? And wouldn't this go against the whole chain migration argument? Anyone that goes the military route could petition for an immediate relative right away.

This is what confuses me about this bill and I'm sure that's the case for a lot of other people as well.