{"id":4537,"date":"2012-01-27T11:09:36","date_gmt":"2012-01-27T16:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=4537"},"modified":"2012-01-27T14:41:11","modified_gmt":"2012-01-27T19:41:11","slug":"prompted-by-presidential-debates-congressman-introduces-new-dream-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/01\/27\/prompted-by-presidential-debates-congressman-introduces-new-dream-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Prompted By Presidential Debates, Congressman Introduces New DREAM Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Joe Raedle \/ Getty News Images<\/p>

U.S. Rep. David Rivera has introduced a new version of the DREAM Act.<\/p><\/div>\n

U.S. Rep. David Rivera of Miami has taken a cue from the presidential contenders and introduced a new version of the DREAM Act<\/a> providing a fast-track citizenship path for those who enter the military.<\/p>\n

The original DREAM Act would have provided a citizenship track for the children of undocumented immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for years and enrolled in college or signed up for the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

The bill could also mean access to in-state tuition rates in Florida<\/a>. Florida does not grant in-state tuition unless a student (and sometimes their parents<\/a>) can prove citizenship.<\/p>\n

The bill passed a Democrat-controlled U.S. House in 2010, but died in the the Senate. Republicans subsequently took control of the House and the bill has languished.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich reiterated his support for the idea at Monday’s Tampa debate. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney quickly followed suit, clarifying — or reversing, if you’re less generous — his earlier position that he would veto the DREAM Act if elected president.<\/p>\n

Those statements gave Rivera new hope, he told the Miami Herald<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Rivera said he\u2019d been quietly working on immigration reform since he came to Congress a year ago. He said he decided to go with the military-only piece because it already had the support of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich \u2014 the GOP candidate who Rivera is backing in Tuesday\u2019s Florida primary. But it also got a nod from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney during Monday\u2019s presidential debate in Florida…<\/p>\n

His own bill doesn\u2019t ensure automatic residency, Rivera said. Applicants would need to meet a set of preliminary criteria to be considered for the program, and once accepted, demonstrate good moral conduct and a record of service in the United States military to then be eligible for legal status.<\/p>\n

Because the DREAM Act won\u2019t pass as the bill currently exits, said Rivera, why not try to get a bill that would pass.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s also a lot to be said for victory-by-victory, year-by-year,” he said. “Laying the groundwork could very much expedite those reforms in the future.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now maybe Rivera can get a little more love from the presidential hopefuls. As many in the national press noted<\/a>, Rivera was one of the few Florida Hispanic elected officials not name-checked during Thursday’s debate in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. David Rivera of Miami has taken a cue from the presidential contenders and introduced a new version of the DREAM Act providing a fast-track citizenship path for those who enter the military. The original DREAM Act would have provided a citizenship track for the children of undocumented immigrants who had lived in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":4538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1068,269,1053,1112,259,1069],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4537"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4537"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4561,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4537\/revisions\/4561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}