Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are tussling over who is more hawkish on immigration reform.
Here is what Rubio recently stated on Fox News about Trump’s past position on immigration reform:
Well first of all, Donald was a supporter of amnesty and the DREAM Act, he changed his position on those issues just to run for president.
I am not sure where Rubio pulled this from, but in surfing the Internet, I found a post by Hotair.com where Trump is on record saying that the millions of illegals in the U.S. need to be given “a path.”
As far as supporting “DREAMers,” or the DREAM Act, the same article points out that it was actually the activists that met with Trump, who said that “The Donald” supported their cause. He did not actually say that.
But he also kept asking, “Can’t you just become a citizen if you want to?” No, we can’t, the activists said, there’s no process for that. Trump was reflective, the activists said…
Trump said he knew the work of undocumented people is what makes his golf courses and hotels great.
“At the end of the day, what we’re looking at is a value proposition for America,” Tijerino said to Trump at the end of the meeting, referring to immigration legislation.
“You’ve convinced me,” Trump said to the delight of the activists in the room.
“We all smiled at each other and said, ‘Wow, we did it, we got this guy to change his mind,’” Pacheco said.
As far as what Rubio’s position on immigration reform is, his 2010 CNN Senatorial debate will shed some light on the matter. Rubio stated that an “earned path to citizenship is basically code for amnesty. It’s what they call it.”
Fast forward to 2013 and, by cosponsoring and promoting the disastrous and highly-unpopular Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill, Rubio flip-flopped on his position of not allowing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Now, Rubio is back to saying that the key to fixing the immigration problem is to enforce existing immigration laws, and he supports a piece-meal approach to immigration reform. In 2010, Rubio stated:
And the reality of it is this: This has to do with the bottom line that America cannot be the only country in the world that does not enforce its immigration laws. It is unfair to the people that have legally entered this country to create an alternative pathway for individuals who entered illegally and knowingly did so.
Is it fair to say that both Trump and Rubio once supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants?
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