As the presidential election nears, both the democratic and republican parties are focusing on how to secure votes from immigrants. A Florida senator is pushing for a republican version of immigration legislation which would help the GOP to identify with immigrants the way that Obama's team has been able to do. This senator is Marco Rubio, one of the possible picks for vice president of the United States. Rubio is currently working on a bill which would allow young illegal immigrants to remain in the US. The immigrants are allowed to reside in America, but they would not be given citizenship. The bill caters to the generation of students who were brought over as young children with their parents, and now face challenges because of their alien status.
According to Fox News, Rubio's proposition would help to decide the fate of over 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Rubio's bill is essentially a conservative alternative to Obama's popular DREAM Act. DREAM stands for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors measure. This act is backed by Democrats, and is overwhelmingly popular with Hispanics. This act provides citizenship to children in the United States who entered the country illegally with their parents. In order to receive status as a legal US citizen, the children need to attend college or join the military. This measure came very close to passage in December of 2010, but has since been neglected.
According to The Associated Press, Rubio is searching for a more conservative law, because he wants to come up with a system that will honor the nation's laws but also respect America's legacy of immigration. Rubio is the GOP's best known Hispanic representative, and is the son of Cuban exiles. Political observers say that the GOP's most popular Hispanic could help the Republican Party make friends with the nation's quickest growing minority. There are 21 million eligible Hispanic immigrant voters in the United States, which are concentrated in the swinging states such as Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado.
Evidentially, Obama has a stronger following with the Hispanic immigrant community in the United States. A Pew Research Study shows that Obama has 67 percent of voters on his side, a strong advantage when compared to Romney's 27 percent. The Republican presidential nominee has noticed how his lack of enthusiasm from these immigrants is hurting his campaign. Romney told attendees at a fundraiser in Florida that the GOP must get Hispanics to vote Republican. To do this, they will need to create a tantalizing alternative to the DREAM Act.
Romney told NBC News that the amount of Hispanics who are following Obama spells doom for his party. Rubio has weighed in to help tone down all anti-immigrant talk from the GOP and support young immigrants with this new bill. He hopes that by allowing young illegal immigrants to apply for non-immigrant visas, he may be able to persuade some of them to vote for his party. In Rubio's bill, the immigrants are given privileges like a driver's licenses, rights to reside, schooling, and the ability to hold a job.
On the other hand, they are not allowed to vote, and are not considered a legal citizen. These young immigrants would be able to apply for US residency, but they would not be given a special path to citizenship, like in the DREAM Act. Pro-immigration groups are skeptical of Rubio's bill, though some parties are enthusiastic. Certain political commentators believe that the new bill is nothing more than a political ploy and others think it could be very helpful for immigrants in the US. The GOP is divided on Rubio's bill, and is not sure whether or not they want to change immigration policy.