The immigration issue is heating up once again and the politics are flying back and forth.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio who has suddenly become the unofficial spokesman on immigration for the Republican Party called details of President Obama's leaked immigration proposal "half-baked" last week predicting his measure would be "dead on arrival in Congress."
His words coming at an opportune time as Rubio spent much of the week touring key counties in the Middle East including Israel as a member of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee.
USA Today had reported that a draft bill suggested by the White House would allow illegal immigrants into the U.S. It would come under a new law that allows for special visas labeled "Lawful Prospective Immigrant."
Huh? Isn’t this just veiled amnesty?
The bill would also authorize businesses employing foreign workers to verify their legal status within four years.
Sen. Rubio jumped on the proposed plan saying “It’s a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress. President Obama’s leaked immigration proposal is disappointing to those of us working on a serious solution. The president’s bill repeats the failures of past legislation.”
There are many in Washington who feel the president has only recently decided to make immigration an issue since Sen. Rubio has become active throughout the media with his own ideas of solving the issue once and for all.
The president now promises to send an immigration bill to Congress “ … if lawmakers do not move on the issue in a timely fashion."
An interesting choice of words considering he called for legislation to be a “priority” in the first year of his presidency in 2009.
Rubio responded by saying, “Much like the president’s self-described ‘stop gap’ Deferred Action measure last year, this legislation is half-baked and seriously flawed. It would actually make our immigration problems worse, and would further undermine the American people’s confidence in Washington’s ability to enforce our immigration laws and reform our broken immigration system”
Rubio toured Jordan and Israel this week, just days after delivering the Republican response — in English and Spanish — to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address – a thorn in the side of the president who envisioned himself as the leader of the immigration movement.
So much so, the compliant mainstream press went out of their way to portray Rubio as a buffoon in the now famous reach for the water bottle during his rebuttal live on TV.
It is no secret that the first-term senator is now considered presidential timber in the Republican Party for the 2016 election.
Rubio says that the trip is part of his official duties as a member of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee.
Since the 2012 elections, Rubio has been an outspoken leader in directing the Republican’s efforts to be included in the immigration debate. At stake are 12 million illegals currently in the United States legal status that will form a vast new base for either the Republicans or Democrats.
Both parties deny their motives are geared to this well-known fact, but anyone denying it is tongue-in-cheek.
Last November, the president captured 71 percent of the Hispanic vote in his recent re-election bid against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. It is no wonder the GOP considers Rubio its best hope to recapture the Hispanic vote in years to come.
Rubio has stressed his trip to the Middle East with his wife Jeanette is not using taxpayer funds. A further early indicator the senator is leaving no room for scandal as he tidies up his political accomplishments.
There is little doubt the White House and the Democrats consider the senator from Florida their number one target in February, 2013.
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