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onehandle

(51,122 posts) Wed Apr 18, 2012, 07:19 AM Apr 2012

Rubio's immigration push a potential lift for GOP

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's push for a Republican version of immigration legislation looks like the answer to the election-year prayers of the GOP — and Mitt Romney.

Rubio — telegenic son of Cuban exiles and potential vice presidential pick — is pulling together a bill that would allow young illegal immigrants to remain in the United States but denies them citizenship, an initial step in the drawn-out, divisive fight over immigration policy and the fate of the 11 million people here illegally.

The freshman senator calls his evolving legislation a conservative alternative to the DREAM Act — the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors measure. That Democratic-backed bill, which is overwhelmingly popular with Hispanics, would provide a pathway to citizenship to children in the United States illegally if they attend college or join the military. The measure came close to passage in December 2010 but has languished since then.

"We have to come up with an immigration system that honors both our legacy as a nation of laws and also our legacy as a nation of immigrants," Rubio told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/rubios-immigration-push-potential-lift-gop-192656018.html

8 replies

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Rubio's immigration push a potential lift for GOP (Original Post) onehandle Apr 2012 OP

Translated: Illegal immigrants can stay in this country as guests but can't register as Democrats no_hypocrisy Apr 2012 #1

Exactly drm604 Apr 2012 #3

WTF will that accomplish? tularetom Apr 2012 #2

gotta agree with you Beer Snob-50 Apr 2012 #4

It will create a whole new class of US resident: "Permanent Guest". with no hope of ever pampango Apr 2012 #5

Right on cue: Romney Immigration Adviser Kris Kobach Says Mitt Romney Won’t Support GOP DREAM Act pampango Apr 2012 #8

Taxation Without Representation DallasNE Apr 2012 #6

So...it allows illegals to remain here in the same fucked-in-the-ass state that they've been in? Arkana Apr 2012 #7

no_hypocrisy

(46,209 posts)

1. Translated: Illegal immigrants can stay in this country as guests but can't register as Democrats

Reply to onehandle (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 07:34 AM

Apr 2012

to vote against Republicans.

drm604

(16,230 posts)

3. Exactly

Reply to no_hypocrisy (Reply #1)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 07:58 AM

Apr 2012

Cheap labor without those nasty Democratic votes. It's a win / win!

tularetom

(23,664 posts)

2. WTF will that accomplish?

Reply to onehandle (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 07:39 AM

Apr 2012

It's just an acknowledgement of the fact that we have 11 million people present in this country illegally and there is nothing we can do about it. It will piss off the idiots who want to "send them all back" but it won't solve any problems for the immigrants themselves.

What it will do is create a permanent population of peon laborers and get employers of this group off the hook for violations of immigration law.

Beer Snob-50

(6,676 posts)

4. gotta agree with you

Reply to tularetom (Reply #2)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 10:32 AM

Apr 2012

how does this actually address the problem? It really doesn't.

pampango

(24,692 posts)

5. It will create a whole new class of US resident: "Permanent Guest". with no hope of ever

Reply to tularetom (Reply #2)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 11:06 AM

Apr 2012

becoming a citizen. I doubt that republicans can find in the Constitution or from the Founding Fathers, that they pretend to actually care about, to show that "Permanent Guest" is a class of people ever envisioned.

You're right. It will piss off the teabaggers who want to put them all on a train bound for Tijuana. And I doubt that the offer to let them stay forever as second-class (not even) citizens with no voice in the government they live under, is going to help Romney much with the Hispanic vote.

The funny thing is: I bet if Democrats took them up on the offer (not that they will or should), repubs would back off of it in a heartbeat. Republicans would start to think "If the 'illegals' become 'legal' (even without voting rights) it's going to a lot harder to exploit them. Plus though they won't be able to vote their children and their children's children born here will all eventually become citizens and are not likely to vote republican."

My guess is that the teabaggers will see this flaw in the logic of the GOP very quickly and shoot down any attempt by Romney to actually campaign on it.

pampango

(24,692 posts)

8. Right on cue: Romney Immigration Adviser Kris Kobach Says Mitt Romney Won’t Support GOP DREAM Act

Reply to pampango (Reply #5)

Thu Apr 19, 2012, 06:51 AM

Apr 2012

After Romney said over the weekend that Republicans need to embrace a Republican DREAM Act to win over Hispanic voters, Kobach told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that the former Massachusetts governor will not support any version of the DREAM Act that offers a path to legal status — like the GOP version Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) plans to introduce. And he added that no Republican should support such a proposal:

(Kobach) stated flatly that he didn’t think Republicans — or Romney — should, or would, support any version of the DREAM Act that provides undocumented immigrants with any kind of path to legal status.

If Romney sticks to this — and Kobach said he would — there’s very little room for him to moderate his approach to immigration. In addition to advising Romney on immigration, Kobach is a national GOP voice on the issue, suggesting the right would not permit any move of this kind.

“I’d absolutely reject any proposal that would give a path to legal status for illegal aliens en masse,” Kobach said. “That is what amnesty is. I do not expect [Romney] to propose or embrace amnesty.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/18/466841/kobach-says-romney-wont-support-gop-dream-act/

"My guess is that the teabaggers will see this flaw in the logic of the GOP very quickly and shoot down any attempt by Romney to actually campaign on it."

That did not take long. Kobach jumped on this. He sees clearly that this is at odds with all of the state immigration laws that ALEC has has successfully passed in republican-run states in the past couple of years.

Hey Mitt. Good luck keeping the teabaggers on board with your campaign if you support even this flawed "GOP Dream Act".

DallasNE

(7,403 posts)

6. Taxation Without Representation

Reply to onehandle (Original post)

Wed Apr 18, 2012, 02:30 PM

Apr 2012

And second class "citizenship" is what the Rubio bill represents. They would not be allowed to vote or to get a Passport but would be expected to pay their taxes. Why does Rubio hate non-Cuban Latino's so much.

Arkana

(24,347 posts)

7. So...it allows illegals to remain here in the same fucked-in-the-ass state that they've been in?