Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, once a strong advocate for comprehensive immigration reform, has largely stayed on the sidelines of the current immigration debate. Rubio says because Republicans are in full control of Washington, any immigration bill that passes should be more closely aligned to Republican ideals, rather than moderate or bipartisan ones.
Rubio was a strong advocate, indeed a key co-author, of the comprehensive immigration bill that was voted on in 2013. But so far, he has rejected calls to join a bipartisan group looking to find a solution to the immigration problem this year. And the reluctance to lend his name and voice to a bipartisan effort has left many other Senators wondering whether his motivation is political.
Rubio denies that though, and says the difference between 2013 and now is that Republicans now have control of the levers of government. “The difference between now and ‘13 is that there’s a Republican in the White House and a Republican majority in the Senate,” Rubio said. “The 2013 bill was designed through the context of a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president. Now we have a Republican Senate, a Republican House and a Republican president.”
Rubio has expressed the view that what can pass the senate and become law is something more conservative that what the senators in the bipartisan group are proposing. GOP senators have intimated recently that Rubio is privately aligning himself closer to a bill written by immigration hard liners that would cut legal immigration and limit refugees. Senators David Perdue (R-GA) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), are driving that effort. “There’s a lot of concepts in that bill I could support,” Rubio said recently.
Proponents of the bipartisan effort say Rubio’s position can be a harbinger of what can pass out of the senate. “He’s a bellwether on this issue as to what can happen, what can pass, what cannot,” said Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican congressman from South Florida. “His voice could either be exceedingly helpful or help kill something. I think he carries that much clout on this issue.”