Marco Rubio has two major problems on immigration: 1) in 2013, he supported a path to citizenship for 11 million immigrants (that's when his numbers
started to plummet among Republicans above); 2) he walked away from his own immigration bill that would have provided that path to citizenship.
Pundits are more focused on the first part of that equation right now and whether he can make amends with the Republican base, 70 percent of whom "want the next president to oppose a path to citizenship."
During the primary, Politico reports that Rubio plans to say the comprehensive immigration bill he once supported was "simply not realistic." Instead he'll argue that Congress should take a piecemeal approach.
Starting with proposals that Republicans largely support such as enforcement at the southern border, a mandatory electronic system to verify the legal status of employees and a new method to track people who overstay their visas. He’ll argue that deporting all 11 million immigrants here illegally is improbable, and call for an onerous series of steps to allow some to stay in the country. And a President Rubio would only entertain that possibility of citizenship after enforcement-minded immigration laws are enacted first.
Whether that will mollify GOP primary voters remains to be seen. He turned his back on his own bill so quickly and forcefully that some seem willing to forgive him.
Said Jenny Beth Martin, the president and co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots: “I think that Sen. Rubio has done something that most politicians don’t do: He evaluated what went wrong … [and] is working to make sure he doesn’t make the same mistakes again. I think that neutralizes his mistakes.”
Head below the fold to find out how Rubio might do should he survive the primary.
But if Rubio manages to reach the general election, he will face the second part of the equation—the fact that he abandoned the 11 million undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been working tirelessly to reform the system for years.
“Every time he gets on his knees and begs for forgiveness from the nativist right in the GOP, I cringe,” said Frank Sharry, a veteran immigration advocate who leads America’s Voice, a left-leaning, pro-reform group. “He will always be known as the guy who stood up for something he seemed to believe in and backed down when it was politically convenient to do so.”
And here's the response to Rubio's announcement
from the website of the DREAM Action Coalition, a pro-immigration group.
Good luck, Senator.