Politico (by Manu Raju and Scott Wong): A year ago Rep. Luis Gutierrez, the Chicago-born son of Puerto Rican immigrants, called Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) an "extremist" on immigration.
But after hearing Rubio's pitch last week on his version of the so-called DREAM Act, the liberal Illinois Democrat sang a more positive tune -- so much so that some of his colleagues are beginning to rib him about it.
"I was catching all this grief from Democrats: "Oh, now you're Rubio's best friend." "Hey, does he have a little office for you when he's VP?"" Gutierrez recalled in an interview. "There's no meanness to it -- it's part of the politics of this place."
The meeting with Gutierrez and top Hispanic Democrats was one of many stops on a Rubio charm offensive as the Florida Republican has engaged in a behind-the-scenes lobbying blitz to sell his proposal that would help children of illegal immigrants gain a more-permanent legal status.
Rubio is working an odd-bedfellows coalition, ranging from hard-line anti-illegal immigration groups like Numbers USA to progressive leaders in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And as he meets with Democrats, he is actively moving to head off a conservative rebellion, trying to curry support from the influential Heritage Foundation, religious leaders like Richard Land and tea party favorites like Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Rep. Steve King of Iowa.
But the rookie senator is already finding that building a coalition on a hot issue like immigration -- in an election year, no less -- is an incredibly tough slog.
If his proposal is too tough on enforcement, he'll lose support from Democrats and Latino advocacy groups. If he softens his proposal too much, he risks turning off conservatives who are approaching Rubio, a rising star in the party, with an open mind. For now, both sides are reluctant to fully embrace his proposals.
"There are significant obstacles," Rubio, a potential Mitt Romney running mate, told POLITICO. "I'm not saying this is going to be easy and this issue comes with a long history and things that happened before I got here. So I'm dealing with that a little bit, too."
For now, Rubio's strategy is to solicit input from key conservatives in his party, who could influence a significant number of Hill Republicans. At the same time, Rubio's team is trying to woo groups representing children who could be affected by his proposal, a move that would pressure Democrats who claim they're worried about young people brought to the country illegally through no fault of their own.
"If you want to compare it to the Republicans' rhetoric, it's an improvement," said Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who attended the meeting with Gutierrez and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) last week. "If you want to compare it to what we've been proposing with Democrats along with some Republicans, it's not an improvement."
Democrats have their own political calculus. There's little incentive to back a watered-down version of the DREAM Act and give bipartisan cover to Republicans eager to peel off crucial Hispanic support for President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. But at the same time, Democrats are trying to demonstrate to Latinos that they are open to working with Rubio -- but they want him to bring his fellow Republicans along.
"At the end of the day, where are the votes that he brings with him?" Menendez asked.
Rubio is working closely with Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) as he tries to turn his ideas into legislation -- so many of the most important details have yet to be finalized.
But he has begun to pitch the plan in broad terms, saying it would legalize undocumented children brought to the United States at an early age provided they have no criminal record and have completed high school. It would grant them "non-immigrant" visas, allowing them to stay in the country and access the existing immigration system through which they could eventually become green card holders or naturalized citizens.
By contrast, the DREAM Act -- which failed to overcome Republican opposition in a Democratic-controlled Congress in 2010 -- would provide a direct pathway to citizenship by providing green cards to children seeking higher education or military service of at least two years. They also must have come to the U.S. before age 16, be under the age of 30, have lived in the country for five years, pass a criminal background test and have earned a high school diploma or GED. Beneficiaries could apply for citizenship after six years.
Asked about Rubio's proposal last week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said passing it would be "difficult at best."
But Rubio believes that task would become easier with buy-in from the right.
Rubio has turned to his Senate chief of staff, Cesar Conda, as a point man on his DREAM Act outreach, as well as his No. 2, Sally Canfield, a former senior Bush official at the Homeland Security Department. Conda advised then-Vice President Dick Cheney on immigration matters during the Bush administration and has decades-long relationships with many of the nation's leading pro-immigration activists.
Rubio, Conda and other senior staffers have held sit-down meetings and phone calls with top officials at the conservative Heritage Foundation in recent weeks, seeking input on their DREAM Act plan, sources familiar with the meetings said.
Matthew Spalding, vice president of American Studies at Heritage, said the organization is still waiting to see legislative language, noting that the "devil's in the details," but added that it's narrower than the Democratic DREAM Act.
"We think there can be a reasonable way to address this problem consistent with the broader principles of immigration reform," Spalding said.
Similarly, Rubio reached out to the conservative activist group Numbers USA, which has been a leading voice against proposals it dubs "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
While many of the group's members have been outraged by early reports of Rubio's plan, the group's president, Roy Beck, said his group would be willing to entertain the proposal if it were tied to tougher electronic verification requirements for prospective workers, tighter green card restrictions and beefed-up border security proposals.
Other conservatives seem more receptive to Rubio's plan.
"I think it's not unreasonable to talk about people who have been here a long time trying to figure out a way to give them a legitimate existence where they pay taxes and work," Paul, the tea party freshman, told POLITICO.
Rubio's office is also soliciting input from so-called dreamers themselves, such as Mohammad Abdollahi, 26, an undocumented immigrant whose parents brought him to the U.S. from Iran at age 3.
"What he's proposed is better than what we're left with right now -- the risk of getting deported to Mexico or Iran," said Abdollahi, co-founder of the group DreamActivist.org, who lives in Michigan and drives without a license. "I could get deported if I get pulled over."
In recent months, Conda has been emailing activists like Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of the left-leaning America's Voice, and Ali Noorani, head of the National Immigration Forum, who spoke with Rubio for about 20 minutes a few weeks back.
Sharry, who's known Conda for more than 20 years, said their dialogue "hasn't always been friendly, but it's been honest." At first, Sharry dismissed Rubio's plan as an election-year ploy designed to help Romney with Hispanic voters, but he now concludes that the senator is being both "brave and strategic."
"If Republicans can't support his right-leaning approach to the DREAM Act, then they can kiss the Latino vote -- and their chances of seeing the inside of the White House -- goodbye for a generation," Sharry said. "If Democrats refuse to work with him then they open themselves up to accusations of favoring partisan politics over bipartisan legislative progress."
But after hearing Rubio's pitch last week on his version of the so-called DREAM Act, the liberal Illinois Democrat sang a more positive tune -- so much so that some of his colleagues are beginning to rib him about it.
"I was catching all this grief from Democrats: "Oh, now you're Rubio's best friend." "Hey, does he have a little office for you when he's VP?"" Gutierrez recalled in an interview. "There's no meanness to it -- it's part of the politics of this place."
The meeting with Gutierrez and top Hispanic Democrats was one of many stops on a Rubio charm offensive as the Florida Republican has engaged in a behind-the-scenes lobbying blitz to sell his proposal that would help children of illegal immigrants gain a more-permanent legal status.
Rubio is working an odd-bedfellows coalition, ranging from hard-line anti-illegal immigration groups like Numbers USA to progressive leaders in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. And as he meets with Democrats, he is actively moving to head off a conservative rebellion, trying to curry support from the influential Heritage Foundation, religious leaders like Richard Land and tea party favorites like Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Rep. Steve King of Iowa.
But the rookie senator is already finding that building a coalition on a hot issue like immigration -- in an election year, no less -- is an incredibly tough slog.
If his proposal is too tough on enforcement, he'll lose support from Democrats and Latino advocacy groups. If he softens his proposal too much, he risks turning off conservatives who are approaching Rubio, a rising star in the party, with an open mind. For now, both sides are reluctant to fully embrace his proposals.
"There are significant obstacles," Rubio, a potential Mitt Romney running mate, told POLITICO. "I'm not saying this is going to be easy and this issue comes with a long history and things that happened before I got here. So I'm dealing with that a little bit, too."
For now, Rubio's strategy is to solicit input from key conservatives in his party, who could influence a significant number of Hill Republicans. At the same time, Rubio's team is trying to woo groups representing children who could be affected by his proposal, a move that would pressure Democrats who claim they're worried about young people brought to the country illegally through no fault of their own.
"If you want to compare it to the Republicans' rhetoric, it's an improvement," said Rep. Charles Gonzalez (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who attended the meeting with Gutierrez and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) last week. "If you want to compare it to what we've been proposing with Democrats along with some Republicans, it's not an improvement."
Democrats have their own political calculus. There's little incentive to back a watered-down version of the DREAM Act and give bipartisan cover to Republicans eager to peel off crucial Hispanic support for President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. But at the same time, Democrats are trying to demonstrate to Latinos that they are open to working with Rubio -- but they want him to bring his fellow Republicans along.
"At the end of the day, where are the votes that he brings with him?" Menendez asked.
Rubio is working closely with Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) as he tries to turn his ideas into legislation -- so many of the most important details have yet to be finalized.
But he has begun to pitch the plan in broad terms, saying it would legalize undocumented children brought to the United States at an early age provided they have no criminal record and have completed high school. It would grant them "non-immigrant" visas, allowing them to stay in the country and access the existing immigration system through which they could eventually become green card holders or naturalized citizens.
By contrast, the DREAM Act -- which failed to overcome Republican opposition in a Democratic-controlled Congress in 2010 -- would provide a direct pathway to citizenship by providing green cards to children seeking higher education or military service of at least two years. They also must have come to the U.S. before age 16, be under the age of 30, have lived in the country for five years, pass a criminal background test and have earned a high school diploma or GED. Beneficiaries could apply for citizenship after six years.
Asked about Rubio's proposal last week, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said passing it would be "difficult at best."
But Rubio believes that task would become easier with buy-in from the right.
Rubio has turned to his Senate chief of staff, Cesar Conda, as a point man on his DREAM Act outreach, as well as his No. 2, Sally Canfield, a former senior Bush official at the Homeland Security Department. Conda advised then-Vice President Dick Cheney on immigration matters during the Bush administration and has decades-long relationships with many of the nation's leading pro-immigration activists.
Rubio, Conda and other senior staffers have held sit-down meetings and phone calls with top officials at the conservative Heritage Foundation in recent weeks, seeking input on their DREAM Act plan, sources familiar with the meetings said.
Matthew Spalding, vice president of American Studies at Heritage, said the organization is still waiting to see legislative language, noting that the "devil's in the details," but added that it's narrower than the Democratic DREAM Act.
"We think there can be a reasonable way to address this problem consistent with the broader principles of immigration reform," Spalding said.
Similarly, Rubio reached out to the conservative activist group Numbers USA, which has been a leading voice against proposals it dubs "amnesty" to illegal immigrants.
While many of the group's members have been outraged by early reports of Rubio's plan, the group's president, Roy Beck, said his group would be willing to entertain the proposal if it were tied to tougher electronic verification requirements for prospective workers, tighter green card restrictions and beefed-up border security proposals.
Other conservatives seem more receptive to Rubio's plan.
"I think it's not unreasonable to talk about people who have been here a long time trying to figure out a way to give them a legitimate existence where they pay taxes and work," Paul, the tea party freshman, told POLITICO.
Rubio's office is also soliciting input from so-called dreamers themselves, such as Mohammad Abdollahi, 26, an undocumented immigrant whose parents brought him to the U.S. from Iran at age 3.
"What he's proposed is better than what we're left with right now -- the risk of getting deported to Mexico or Iran," said Abdollahi, co-founder of the group DreamActivist.org, who lives in Michigan and drives without a license. "I could get deported if I get pulled over."
In recent months, Conda has been emailing activists like Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of the left-leaning America's Voice, and Ali Noorani, head of the National Immigration Forum, who spoke with Rubio for about 20 minutes a few weeks back.
Sharry, who's known Conda for more than 20 years, said their dialogue "hasn't always been friendly, but it's been honest." At first, Sharry dismissed Rubio's plan as an election-year ploy designed to help Romney with Hispanic voters, but he now concludes that the senator is being both "brave and strategic."
"If Republicans can't support his right-leaning approach to the DREAM Act, then they can kiss the Latino vote -- and their chances of seeing the inside of the White House -- goodbye for a generation," Sharry said. "If Democrats refuse to work with him then they open themselves up to accusations of favoring partisan politics over bipartisan legislative progress."
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