Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio was once behind the attempt to radically overhaul the immigration system in the United States; however, he now says that it is no longer possible for such comprehensive reform to take place in one go.
“We can’t do it in a massive piece of legislation,” Rubio declared on Face the Nation on CBS yesterday. “And I know, ‘cause I tried.” He added that the Republicans “understand that we have to deal with 12 million human beings that are in this country, that have been here for longer than a decade.” Although Rubio seems to still be hopeful that that situation can be resolved amicably, he says that this cannot happen until the mass arrival of undocumented immigrants is brought to an end and prevented from ever happening again.
Rubio’s comments were made following criticism from Democrats about his decision to withdraw his support for the comprehensive immigration bill he had a hand in forming, which was passed by the Senate in 2013 only to stumble to a halt in the House of Representatives. Missouri Democrat Senator Claire McCaskill, interviewed on This Week on ABC yesterday, slammed Rubio for folding the moment his colleagues objected.
“That’s old politics,” McCaskill declared. “That’s not what we need right now. That is the stalest trick in the book. That is shirking on your principles because of the political necessities of your party.”