Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz that has emerged since Tuesday’s GOP debate, Rubio claimed that Cruz is painting himself as tougher on immigration only because the Texan shifted his position.
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After months of avoiding conflict, Sens.
“If you look at it, I don’t believe our positions are dramatically different”, Rubio said. Rubio was an original sponsor of a bill calling for comprehensive changes in immigration policy, a position he has backed off during his campaign. Now he says that’s not a good idea after all, but Rubio won’t let him off the hook.
The fact is that all illegals have committed at least one crime: entering the country illegally. But he does propose to “increase deportations” and end federal assistance for “sanctuary cities” that don’t cooperate with federal law enforcement.
“Florida’s primary comes at a critical time”, Cruz said during his speech at the Sunshine Summit, insisting Florida could prove “decisive” in 2016 in the primaries and the general elections. “The effect would be that those 11 million [illegal immigrants] under this current bill would still be eligible for RPI [Registered Provisional Immigrant] status”, Cruz said in support of his amendment in 2013. “The Gang of Eight voted as a gang against enforcing and securing the border”.
Rubio, on the other hand, has sought to muddy the waters between Cruz’s immigration positions and his own, telling reporters in SC on Thursday that Cruz has been “a supporter of legalizing people that are in this country illegally”.
Despite that omission, it seems likely that if Rubio continues to rise in the GOP race, someone, somewhere will pay attention to his most important accomplishment.
That’s not how Rubio sees it. He responded to Cruz’s attacks by suggesting that, actually, Cruz was in favor of amnesty.
Cruz has wanted to increase legal immigration for years, and now, less than 90 days before Iowa votes, he has changed his position.
Cruz disputes that, saying an amendment where he proposed eliminating citizenship and allowing legal status for those here illegally was a tactic aimed at defeating the overall Senate legislation two years ago.
The debate moderators missed the opportunity to ask Rubio about the argument, but Cruz circled back during his next question.
“I personally am open to that”, he said of a “very long” path to citizenship on National Public Radio.
Bush can’t hit Rubio on immigration because their positions have been similar. He called legal immigration “a pillar of our nation’s heritage and strength” and introduced amendments to double the cap on legal immigration and increase the number of high-skilled immigrant visas by 500 percent. “So everybody running for president on the Republican side in one way or shape supports a few form or fashion the legalization of people that are in this country illegally”. “There is nothing compassionate about a politician saying I am so compassionate I am willing to give away your jobs”. “On other issues regarding immigration, he’s not that much further than I am”.
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“Wow, pres. candidate Ben Carson, who is very weak on illegal Immigration, just said he likes amnesty and a pathway to citizenship”, Trump tweeted.
