Rubio attacked for immigration flip-flopping

Republican presidential candidate nominee Marco Rubio is being attacked over the subject of immigration reform, with adverts from groups supporting two of his rivals for the Republican presidential candidacy painting him as being too close to Senator Chuck Schumer and President Obama and flip-flopping on the issue.

The dual attacks came after the senator began to rise in the polls in a number of early-voting states, with Rubio’s previous work on immigration reform leaving him vulnerable in a nomination battle that has seen conservatives become even more skeptical about Rubio’s past work. The assaults are expected to intensify with under three weeks to go before the Iowa caucus.

A new ad campaign from Senator Ted Cruz supporter group Keep the Promise 1 began running on Tuesday, questioning Rubio’s allegiance to Obama and Schumer and highlighting his involvement with the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration bill, which passed the Senate in 2013.

On Monday, meanwhile, another advert from Jeb Bush support group Right to Rise USA was released. This advert criticizes Rubio for flip-flopping on the immigration issue by working on the comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013 after opposing the idea of amnesty for undocumented immigrants just three years earlier in 2010.

“[The] Gang of Eight amnesty deal was a pivotal point for senators to draw a line in the sand on their positions on the crucial issue of rewarding those who broke the law,” says Keep the Promise 1 President Kellyanne Conway, who also noted that Cruz was one of the people who helped to prevent the bill becoming law.