The following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on April 25:

The i’s aren’t dotted and the t’s aren’t crossed but Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is offering his Republican Party a version of the Dream Act that would provide relief for young adults brought to the United States illegally as children by their immigrant parents.

The GOP should embrace this emerging plan. It’s a stop-gap, to be sure, but it would lift hundreds of thousands — as many as one million — young people from the shadows of immigration law, particularly if they pursue college or want to enroll in the U.S. military.

Democrats should embrace this plan, too, as a first step toward fixing America’s broken immigration system. But presidential election year politics once again has turned compromise into a dirty word. Outstanding students like Daniela Pelaez, the 18-year-old valedictorian at North Miami Senior High who was almost deported to Colombia and met with Rubio, deserve better.

Rubio’s plan would allow students like Pelaez to study and work in the United States. Eventually, she could apply for residency under the plan, and get in line for U.S. citizenship. Still to be resolved: upstanding adults such as Ms. Pelaez’s 26-year-old sister who aren’t going to college but nevertheless should not be punished for her parents’ decision.

Rubio needs to move on this concept and reach out to moderate Democrats to make this a reality.