Pfft... that's just what I told Latino voters.
Marco Rubio
told reporters Wednesday that he would end President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program if he's elected president, even if Congress hasn't acted on immigration reform.
“[It would be] ideal,” he said when asked if he wanted Congress to act on immigration first.
“But if it doesn’t, it will end,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate added. "It cannot be the permanent policy of the United States.”
What many people haven't emphasized is that Rubio also wants the immigration program, which is designed to help undocumented immigrants brought here as minors get jobs and expand their education,
stopped immediately.
"I’ve already said we shouldn’t be signing up new people to the program, we should stop new enrollment, this program’s now been around for three years, if you haven’t signed up by now…we’re not going to extend the program. DACA’s going to end.”
Not to be missed here is the splash that Rubio's latest pronouncement made on Spanish-language media Wednesday night. Head below the fold to see it and more.
And in case there's any question who's still calling the shots in the Republican race, Rubio's new positioning came just one day after this tweet from The Donald, the GOP's anti-immigrant ringleader.
Prior to his Wednesday flip-flop, Rubio had said he wasn't calling for an immediate end to DACA—a fact that Breitbart News brought to light earlier this week.
Breitbart News published a story Monday highlighting Rubio's comments in April to Univision's Jorge Ramos, who pressed him on whether he would rescind DACA. He said he wanted to end it eventually, but along with the passage of reform.
"I don't think we can immediately revoke that," Rubio said. "I think it will have to end at some point and I hope it will end because of some reforms to the immigration laws. It cannot be the permanent policy of the United States. But I'm not calling for it to be revoked tomorrow or this week or right away."
Oops. Guess that was just Rubio's pitch to the Spanish-language audience. Once he got called on it by the right-wing media, he had a different response in English to the Beltway press. But Jorge Ramos isn't having it. Seems like a small credibility issue with Latino voters.