By: Daniel Nardini
This piece of legislation is the Republican Party’s answer to the DREAM Act. This legislation, sponsored by U.S. House Representative David Rivera (Republican-Florida), is aimed at the children of undocumented immigrants. Called the Studying Towards Adjusted Residency Status (STARS) Act, the legislation would allow those students of the undocumented who enroll in and are accepted to college to stay in the United States legally. This act only applies to those kids who were brought to the United States at or before the age of 16 and who have no criminal records. When they finish their college studies and graduate, they can then apply for a visa that is renewable every five years. If they complete this successfully, they can then apply for legal permanent residency. From there it is possible to apply for U.S. citizenship.
STARS will apply to a more narrow group of students, and Republican Party congressional personnel claim that this violates no immigration laws and does not give amnesty. The legislation has the support of House representatives Lamar Smith (Republican-Texas), Luis Gutierrez (Democrat-Illinois), and Raul Labrador (Republican-Idaho). Interestingly enough, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is working on a similar legislation to STARS in the Senate. Can this legislation pass, especially in an election year? That remains to be seen. Some Democrats are on board for it because they see it as a possible alternative to the DREAM Act that might, just might get passed (although it now remains to be seen whether other Republicans will want to pass the STARS Act). It may not be as popular as the DREAM Act among many Latino activists, but a growing number are beginning to accept STARS as better than nothing at all. STARS may not be the ideal piece of legislation, but at least it holds out promise for some children of the undocumented.
A separate piece of legislation by the Republicans will cover those children of the undocumented who join the U.S. military. Even with the extreme anti-immigrant messages and advertisings over the past year, a growing number of Republicans realize that the Latino vote is an important one, and now there are attempts being made to repair these bridges. Can the Republican Party repair those bridges in time for the November election? Can the Republican Party repair those bridges by the primary votes this summer and the Republican Party national convention to be held in Florida? These are all good questions, and reason why we are now seeing such immigration reform legislation, like STARS, coming out.
The STARS Act
By: Daniel Nardini
STARS will apply to a more narrow group of students, and Republican Party congressional personnel claim that this violates no immigration laws and does not give amnesty. The legislation has the support of House representatives Lamar Smith (Republican-Texas), Luis Gutierrez (Democrat-Illinois), and Raul Labrador (Republican-Idaho). Interestingly enough, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is working on a similar legislation to STARS in the Senate. Can this legislation pass, especially in an election year? That remains to be seen. Some Democrats are on board for it because they see it as a possible alternative to the DREAM Act that might, just might get passed (although it now remains to be seen whether other Republicans will want to pass the STARS Act). It may not be as popular as the DREAM Act among many Latino activists, but a growing number are beginning to accept STARS as better than nothing at all. STARS may not be the ideal piece of legislation, but at least it holds out promise for some children of the undocumented.
A separate piece of legislation by the Republicans will cover those children of the undocumented who join the U.S. military. Even with the extreme anti-immigrant messages and advertisings over the past year, a growing number of Republicans realize that the Latino vote is an important one, and now there are attempts being made to repair these bridges. Can the Republican Party repair those bridges in time for the November election? Can the Republican Party repair those bridges by the primary votes this summer and the Republican Party national convention to be held in Florida? These are all good questions, and reason why we are now seeing such immigration reform legislation, like STARS, coming out.