Newt Gingrich endorses modified DREAM Act bill

By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

MIAMI - Newt Gingrich today called on Congress to immediately pass a part of the DREAM Act that would put the children of illegal immigrants on a special path to becoming US citizens if they serve in the nation’s armed forces.

“I think there is no opposition to that part of the DREAM Act. I think it should go through immediately,” the former House speaker said at the outset of a speech to the Latin Builders Association.

The Florida-based trade association is heavily populated by Cuban-Americans, who are being courted by all of the Republican presidential candidates ahead of Tuesday’s Florida primary.

The DREAM Act modification was announced today by US Representative David Rivera, a Miami Republican who introduced Gingrich to the builders.

Another portion of the act, which would provide citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who graduate from college, is more controversial and is opposed by both Gingrich and his leading rival, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

While Cubans would be less affected by either DREAM Act change because they get special residency status if they flee the island and reach US shores, Gingrich’s speech was replete with other items of Hispanic outreach.

He called, for example, for moving US military oversight of Mexico from Nebraska to the US Southern Command headquarters outside Miami, as well as additional funding for the facility.

“If you look at how thin we are in terms of the number of people we commit to Latin America, and you compare it to Bahrain or UAE or Kuwait or Afghanistan or Germany or Japan, you really totally neglect Latin America,” he said.

Gingrich urged Washington to look south as much as it does to the Middle East.

In addition, the former speaker called for an overhaul of the US Army Corps of Engineers so the country could speed port modifications to accommodate ships that will be able to travel through a widened Panama Canal.

He noted that in Charleston, S.C., where a primary was held last weekend, the Corps estimates it will take eight years to study the idea.

“This is utterly, total irrational,” said Gingrich.

The speech came just hours before Gingrich and Romney delivered back-to-back speeches to the Hispanic Leadership Network.

The two clashed during a debate last night, and Gingrich hinted afterward that he had a surprise to announce this morning.

The Hispanic Leadership Network meeting, organized, in part, by both US Senator Marco Rubio and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, offered an audience that could make a direct comparison between both candidates.