While Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is leading the Republican fight for immigration reform, he is gradually pulling away from the so-called Gang of Eight, the bipartisan group behind the current draft of the immigration bill. Critics of the bill have pointed out that it is soft on border security and immediately legalizes millions of illegal aliens, including some with criminal backgrounds.
In his effort to distance himself from the other members of the Gang of Eight, Rubio has not appeared in public with them for about two months. Senate Democratic aides secretly worry, according to Politico, that Rubio may sink the bill. “The members feel like they’ve given him quite a bit of rope,” said one aide. “They just want to make sure it doesn’t end up hanging the deal at the end.”
Rubio has said that he will not vote for the current form of the bill without border security protections being added, although he said on Sunday that he believed that 95 to 96 percent of the bill was “perfect.” Critics fear that Rubio has been coopted by other members of the Gang of Eight including Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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