Marco Rubio Opposes Immigration Reform That Echoes His Own Proposals

The only reason Florida Senator Marco Rubio appears to be against the White House proposal is because it’s a White House proposal.

This plan expands on Obama’s original proposal for immigration reform, first introduced in a May 2011 speech. In turn, that plan formed the basis for Rubio’s proposal, which — accordingly — is broadly similar to this one. The “Lawful Protective Immigrant” visa echoes Rubio’s vision for a streamlined guest-worker program, and both call for stronger enforcement measures on top of what has already been implemented by the administration. To apply for this temporary status, both support a combination of penalties…

Despite these similarities, Rubio has come out against the administration’s proposal. “If actually proposed,” the senator said in a press release, “the President’s bill would be dead on arrival in Congress, leaving us with unsecured borders and a broken legal immigration system for years to come.” Rubio accuses the White House of “failing to secure our borders,” creating a “special pathway” for those who broke the law, and doing nothing to address the “future flow” of immigrants.

This isn’t true. The administration might have a more lenient proposal than the one favored by Rubio, but it fits his criteria for acceptability.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.