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.
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