Sen. Marco Rubio Explains His Compromise to the DREAM Act
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is trying to reach across the aisle to find a compromise on immigration. In order to break the gridlock, Rubio is coming up with an alternative to the Democrat’s DREAM Act. He joined host Paul Gigot of the Journal Editorial Report to talk about his plans for immigration reform.
Sen. Rubio said, “The first step I’m trying to make is to deal with children basically that were brought here at a very young age through no fault of their own, find themselves here undocumented … All I’m trying to do is to help these kids do right what their parents did wrong.”
He explained that if children graduate from high school, haven’t committed any felonies
and came to the U.S. before a certain age, then the government will provide a non-immigrant visa that allows them to stay in the country legally. It would allow young people to complete their education, but unlike amnesty they would have to apply for a green card in order to stay in the country after the visa expires.
Sen. Rubio said his plan is not providing amnesty because “There’s a difference that we’ve long recognized in this country, for example, in the case of refugees, between the people who have chosen to break the law and be here illegally and those who were either brought here by their parents or by circumstances … When you’re eight years old you don’t choose to come to this country illegally. Many of these kids don’t even know they’re undocumented until they graduate and try to go to college.”
The senator went on to speak about foreign issues including the Pakistani doctor who was sentenced to 30 years in prison as well as how he thinks the U.S. should be handling the ongoing violence in Syria. Watch the interview below:
