New Approach to Dream Act
Thu, Apr 19 5:00 PM
The Dream Act has seen many forms in its more than 10 years as a possible legislation, with Democrats and Republicans often coming to a head at any versions of the proposed legislation.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, however, is currently in the process of creating a new version of the act that may be more agreeable to politicians who have shot down the Dream Act in the past. Rubio is currently in the process of creating a bill that would make it possible for individuals who had arrived in the United States prior to age 16 to apply for a non-immigrant visa that would give them legal status in the country. These proposed visas would also give individuals the right to work. However, these visas would not be an accepted path to permanent residency.
Senator Rubio, who is a Republican, was recently named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People In The World. Rubio was heavily featured in the news earlier this year and in 2011 due to his publicized fight with the Spanish language television station Univision.
"There is a difference between citizenship and legalization," Rubio recently stated. "You can legalize someone's status in this country with a significant amount of certainty about their future without placing them on a path toward citizenship. And I think that is something that we can find consensus on."
While Rubio's version of the Dream Act will likely see better support from Republican legislators than previous versions, some experts believe that the revisions will draw strong criticism from Democrats.
"Democratic leadership will go all out to prevent the Rubio DREAM Act from coming up in Congress before November," ImmigrationWorks USA president Tamar Jacoby recently told the New America Foundation.
