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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Monday, October 17, 2011

Rubio Cautious on Immigration

Associated Press: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is raising his national profile through a series of major policy speeches on the economy and America's role in the world.

But one issue Florida's freshman Republican doesn't spend much time discussing is immigration. That's despite the fact his parents came from Cuba and he represents the state with the third-largest number of illegal immigrants. The issue also has garnered recent attention in the Republican presidential primary campaign because Texas Gov. Rick Perry supports in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants, a position Rubio once supported.

Rubio will talk in generalities about immigration but as the charismatic 40-year-old lawmaker's prominence grows, he likely will face more scrutiny on the issue. Despite his denials of interest, he is one of many Republicans who get mentioned as possible vice presidential nominees next year, and recently announced plans for a memoir.

"At the national level, he's not going to get a pass as he did in his Senate election," said Frank Sharry of the Washington, D.C.-based pro-immigrant group, America's Voice. Sharry said Rubio's views on immigration and on making English the official language "are going to be lifted up to the diverse immigrant communities in Florida and to the largely Mexican-American communities in the West."

That is, in part, why talking about immigration is complicated for Rubio. He's the darling of tea party conservatives and generally favors their position of securing the border first and dealing with the country's more than 10 million illegal immigrants later. Republicans also are frank about the charismatic senator's ability to attract Latinos to the GOP, a factor that could play a key role in swing states such as Colorado, New Mexico and Florida next year. Rubio speaks glowingly about his immigrant parents' struggles to rebuild their lives in the United States.

Still, the country's mostly Mexican-American Latino voters tend to support immigration reform that covers both border security and a path to legalization for qualified illegal immigrants, rather than delaying the latter. Meanwhile, even Florida's influential Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, and its Cuban-American immigrants, who get special permission to remain in the United States, tend to be more sympathetic to the plight of illegal immigrants than the general public. They also are more concerned about laws that require police to check suspects' citizenship, fearing they will be the victims of racial profiling.

Former State Rep. J.C. Planas, a Miami Republican and Rubio's longtime House colleague, says Rubio is being unfairly pressed on immigration because he's Hispanic. Planas supports comprehensive immigration reform but said the entire GOP has moved to the right on the issue, and Rubio's position merely reflects that shift.

Rubio is still relatively unknown among Latinos outside Florida, and immigration is hardly the only issue on which they or the rest of the nation will judge him.

But Arturo Vargas, head of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, says it's natural for Latinos to look to Rubio for leadership on the issue.

"It's not unreasonable for people to hope that individuals who are immigrants or children of immigrants and in policy-making positions would be sympathetic to the plight of immigrants," he said. "It's not just about when you talk, it's about using your authority to help make the plight of those individuals better."

During an interview last week at the National Ideas Forum in Washington, Rubio spoke cautiously about his previous co-sponsorship in the Florida House of in-state college tuition for qualified illegal immigrants.

Rubio said when the bill first came up, immigration "wasn't a big issue."

"As the years have gone on and the immigration issue has remained unresolved and in the minds of many gotten worse, and as the number of people in the country without documents grew from 8 million to 9 million to estimates of 11 million, it's been harder and harder to find some of these solutions," he said.

During the forum, he also expressed sympathy for high-achieving illegal immigrant students who were brought to the United States at a young age and grew up here. But he did not say what he would do for them.

Asked by The Associated Press in an email what Rubio would support for such students or whether he still supports in-state tuition, spokesman Alex Contant said the senator would not expand on his forum comments.

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