{"id":6202,"date":"2012-04-09T11:30:31","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T15:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=6202"},"modified":"2012-04-09T11:30:36","modified_gmt":"2012-04-09T15:30:36","slug":"florida-u-s-senator-working-on-new-version-of-the-dream-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/04\/09\/florida-u-s-senator-working-on-new-version-of-the-dream-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida U.S. Senator Working On New Version Of The DREAM Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Mandel Ngan \/ AFP<\/p>

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is working on a new version of the DREAM Act.<\/p><\/div>\n

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is quietly working on a new version of the DREAM Act<\/a> to allow young undocumented immigrants a chance to stay in the U.S. legally while seeking citizenship, according to the Tampa Bay Times<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bill is a political tightrope for Rubio — widely regarded as a potential vice presidential pick <\/a>because of Florida’s crucial role in deciding the electoral college.<\/p>\n

Rubio told the Tampa Bay Times<\/em> his version would require those eligible to wait in line, but stay in the country legally while doing so. Critics say the proposal falls short of what’s needed:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“The Republican Party should not be labeled as the anti-illegal immigration party,” Rubio said. “Republicans need to be the pro-legal immigration party.”<\/p>\n

Now comes his Dream Act alternative, which would give legal status to college students and members of the military. Rubio says he was spurred by Daniela Pelaez, a North Miami High School valedictorian who faced deportation…<\/p>\n

Some experts doubt his proposal \u2014 which stands little chance of passing while Democrats control the Senate \u2014 would have the intended effect or would even work.<\/p>\n

“It’s clearly not intended to do the same thing as the Dream Act,” said Gabriel Sanchez, research director for Latino Decisions, a nonpartisan polling group. “The Latino population is more sophisticated on the immigration issue than the non-Latino population. I think they’ll be able to read through this.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Past versions of the DREAM Act would allow college-bound students or those enlisting in the military an inside track to becoming citizens. But those proposals have been defeated in Congress by those concerned about endorsing illegal immigration.<\/p>\n

Republicans have pushed a strict anti-illegal immigration agenda in recent years — typified by tough laws in Arizona and Alabama.<\/p>\n

A modified version of the DREAM Act could help temper those GOP positions among Hispanic voters seen as a key component to President Barack Obama’s reelection. Florida’s Cuban community reliably votes Republican, but Rubio could draw in voters of other Spanish-speaking origins.<\/p>\n

Rubio’s proposal could also serve as a model for addressing the issue in Florida, where state residency requirements forbid even U.S. born children of undocumented immigrants from receiving in-state tuition rates<\/a> at state colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

Florida lawmakers have consistently voted against a state version<\/a> of the DREAM Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is quietly working on a new version of the DREAM Act to allow young undocumented immigrants a chance to stay in the U.S. legally while seeking citizenship, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The bill is a political tightrope for Rubio — widely regarded as a potential vice presidential pick because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":6204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1068,1053,1137,1069],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6202"}],"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=6202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}