GOP Sens. Marco Rubio, Jon Kyl, Kay Bailey Hutchison crafting own DREAM Act bills

From this:

Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), the only Senate Republican of Hispanic heritage and a possible vice presidential pick, is working on an alternative version of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants who came to the country at a young age and serve in the military or attend college...

"I don't have any specifics to announce yet," said Rubio. "This stuff has to be done responsibly. We're working toward that and hopefully very soon."

Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) are also working on a bill, although its details are being kept secret, according to congressional sources. Senate sources expect it to be unveiled after GOP front-runner Mitt Romney has clinched the presidential nomination.

(In a March 2012 interview with Geraldo Rivera, Rubio said:) "I do think there is another way to deal with this... And I think that one of the debates that we need to begin to have is a difference between citizenship and legalization... 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."

1. Whatever the specifics, the DREAM Act is an anti-American bill that would deprive some U.S. citizens of college educations; see the link.

2. The rest of article (by Alexander Bolton of The Hill) tries to present Democrats (including Harry Reid) as being worried about the GOP's version. They needn't be: even if the GOP pushed through a full-on DREAM Act and gave all involved a new car, many or most of those legalized would eventually become Democratic voters. No matter how the GOP panders on immigration, the Democrats will always be able to undercut them. The GOP is either too dumb or too corrupt to change the terms of that game.

3. As has been pointed out here many, many times, plans like Rubio's to just legalize illegal aliens without putting them on the "path to citizenship" won't work. Those millions of newly-legalized former illegal aliens will be a constant temptation to the Democrats and the far-left, and those groups will work night and day at a fevered pace to put them on the "path". It might take a few years, but those who'd be legalized will eventually be put on the "path".

4. The bit in the article about Mitt Romney is a major warning sign: this might end up being part of an Etch-A-Sketch plan where he weakens his immigration position during the general election.

5. As discussed here, here, and here, the loudest supposed opponents of the Barack Obama administration and of the Democrats have been mostly silent about the DREAM Act (or can't figure out how to oppose it correctly). Expect that to continue, especially if Romney supports it in the general election.