Rubio says Dream Act-style proposal not amnesty, confronts 'humanitarian issue'

Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday defended his emerging version of a scaled-back Dream Act to help the children of illegal immigrants earn legal status, saying it is not a form of amnesty and would use the existing immigration system to address a "humanitarian issue."

"We don't create any special pathways," the Florida Republican senator, who is considered a strong contender to be Mitt Romney's running mate, said on "Fox News Sunday."

Rubio's nascent proposal would allow the children of undocumented residents to obtain visas if they are attending college or serving in the military, and then apply for permanent residency through the normal process after that. The original version of the Dream Act, which many Republicans opposed, would have created a special path to permanent residency and even citizenship.

Rubio's plan has received a mixed response from GOP leaders. Romney himself has indicated a willingness to consider it, though has not openly embraced it.

Asked about Romney's potential reluctance to give Rubio's plan a public bear hug, Rubio said it would be "impossible" for anybody to take a firm stance on it, since the bill has not yet been filed.

"We still don't have a piece of legislation with the details in it," Rubio said.

Rubio's emerging plan is seen in some circles as a lifeline to Romney, who took tough anti-illegal immigration positions during the GOP primary battle, and one that could help him win back Hispanic voters.

Rubio pushed back on that idea, saying it's "wrong" to suggest Hispanic voters are in favor of illegal immigration. If anything, he said, Hispanics have been hurt by the economic policies of President Obama.

Obama's record, he said, "is not a record of upward mobility."

As for his Dream Act-style plan, Rubio insisted it would work within the existing immigration system while expressing empathy for the children of illegal immigrants whom it is meant to help.

"Their parents put them in this predicament," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...e-not-amnesty/

Humanitarian issue is currently part of the immigration.

This is also a civil rights issue.

We need to see a bill soon!! At this point there has been way too much talk. In order for Rubios efforts to become valid, we need to see a bill on paper.

June brother

Rubio said he’s gotten a largely positive response from immigration groups as well from his conservative congressional colleagues about his compromise DREAM Act.

“I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised at the number of Republicans, conservative Republicans, that will view our solution as one that — I don’t want to oversell it. I don’t know what the numbers are going to be, but I think it’s going to be very significant.

“I certainly haven’t had anybody tell me, ‘Don’t keep doing this, it’s not going to go anywhere.’”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1uACd2y00

Troll fight yay

OMG . . . .

It's looking really likely that there's a vote on this before the fall as Rubio wants, he has too much hype and traction behind this bill right now for there to be any delays on it. The vote is coming soon.

June is going to be such an intense month. Not only will the supreme court rule on SB 1070 but also the election will be heating up, so for rubio to even step to the stage a dream act proposal is going to attract even more buzz. It's going to be an insane month. But by the end of it I am fairly sure the future of undocumented immigrants will be decided. Either it will foreshadow the coming rise of mass self deportations and harsher lives, or it could point the way towards future compromise on the issue.

Let's wait and see the bill, something tells me it will be limited to a key segment of dreamers and exclude wide portions in some way or another. But waiting is the key game now.