Rubio tries to thread immigration needle
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) writes in a new book that immigration reform should happen through piecemeal bills, not the kind of massive compromise legislation that he sponsored in the last Congress.
The potential 2016 presidential candidate nods to conservative critics of his big bill, which passed the Senate but never got a vote in the House. But he does not apologize or recant.
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He does advocate a new process for letting people who entered the country illegally to stay. It does not include an explicit pathway to citizenship, something that was included in the Senate bill after negotiations with Democrats. But aides say Rubio does not rule out allowing people who entered the country illegally to eventually become citizens.
Rubios book, American Dreams, comes out next week, but POLITICO obtained an early copy of the chapter that addresses immigration.
The 43-year-old Rubio writes that it is not nativism for people to fear those in the country illegally could take the jobs of American citizens. But he criticizes activists on both sides who he believes are responsible for stalemate on the divisive issue.
Some on the right know it needs to be done, but they want someone else to do it, he writes. Some on the left have concluded that having the issue is more politically valuable than solving the problem. Groups on both sides use it to raise money.
The only mention of immigration in the book comes during the final pages of the second chapter. The rest of the book outlines Rubios domestic policy agenda, including on taxes and health care.
Immigration is the single biggest issue working against Rubios presidential hopes. He hoped that shepherding the bill into law in 2013 would give him a signature achievement to run on, but activists on the right mobilized to help block it. And polling showed an uptick in concern about illegal immigration.
As he weighs whether to run for president or reelection to the Senate, Rubio knows he will need to address the issue head on. The book tour, which starts next week, will offer a window into whether there is space for him in the crowded 2016 field.
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Rubio tries to thread immigration needle