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Senator Marco Rubio said Republicans in Congress should focus more on strengthening U.S. border security and other immigration measures than on trying to overturn President Barack Obamas orders easing deportations.

I would prefer we would spend the majority of our time actually acting on our immigration reform platform, Rubio, a Florida Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate, said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday in Washington.

Even so, Rubio said, I think we should try to prevent this new executive order from kicking in.

On Jan. 14 the House passed a bill that went beyond Republicans pledge to reverse the presidents November orders shielding about 5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. from deportation.

The House measure also seeks to block a 2012 Obama directive that protected immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. In addition, the measure sought to reverse a series of memos starting in 2011 that said terrorists and criminals should be deported first.

House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders agreed to include those measures, which were sought by Tea Party-aligned lawmakers. Democrats say the move risks alienating Hispanic voters because it targets children who were brought illegally to the U.S. through no fault of their own.

Rubio said he supports rolling back the presidents November orders, though he declined to support reversing the 2012 order on immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Rubio, 43, is the son of Cuban exiles.

His position reflects the difficult line Republicans must walk on the immigration issue as the 2016 congressional and presidential elections approach. It also is an acknowledgment of his partys legislative limits. Though Republicans now control both chambers of Congress, Obama said he would veto any legislation reversing his orders.

If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took up the House bill it would put force many Republicans like Rubio to cast a difficult vote.

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Rubio Backs Focus on Border Security Over Reversing Obama Orders