Rubio's Dream Puts Mitt in a Bind

Politico (by Manu Raju): Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has thrust himself into the raging illegal immigration debate, proposing a plan that would create a path to legal status for children of illegal immigrants — putting him at odds with an immoveable wing of the Republican Party on this issue. It’s a risky move for a potential vice presidential candidate, and it puts presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in a pickle as he may have to decide whether to back an immigration plan rolled out by one of the party’s rising Hispanic stars, or stick to the strident anti-illegal immigrant positions he staked out during the Republican primary. Rubio understands full well he’s swimming in turbulent waters. He invited reporters to his office on Thursday to talk about his own version of the Democratic DREAM Act, which would allow some children of illegal immigrants to obtain legal status in the United States. Rubio’s version does not have a citizenship option, as Democrats propose, but it would open the door for children of illegal immigrants who have completed high school to be awarded “non-immigrant visas” before obtaining a more permanent status. The Romney camp is closely watching Rubio’s moves on immigration, and campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the former Massachusetts governor would “study and consider” Rubio’s proposal when he eventually unveils it. “Mitt Romney is the leader of the Republican Party now,” Rubio told a small gathering of reporters in his conference room. “Our hope would be to come up with something that he could be supportive of,” said Rubio, a son of Cuban immigrants. Rubio’s plan would not affect children brought to the U.S. in the future, only ones who currently reside in the country. And it would not affect a much bigger problem: The millions of adults who came illegally and are undocumented workers. But it aims to deal with an emotionally vexing issue over how to deal with children brought in illegally through no fault of their own, giving them a chance to win legal status through the existing immigration system. “Both from a humanitarian aspect and a common-sense perspective, we should figure out a way to accommodate that,” Rubio said, citing a Florida valedictorian of her high school who was accepted to Dartmouth. Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the anti-immigration group Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Rubio’s plan amounts to a “two-step process of amnesty.” Much of the plan’s details are still in concept form — such as which children could apply for the non-immigrant visas — and it stops well short of the Democratic DREAM Act’s call for full citizenship rights for undocumented children who seek higher education or military service. The move could either bolster Rubio’s appeal to be Romney’s running mate at a time when the presumptive nominee is struggling mightily with Hispanic voters. Or it could lead to a divisive internal debate within the GOP and wound the rising star’s standing on the right. But on Thursday, Rubio said his role in the debate should do neither: He said Romney should look elsewhere to find a running mate as he tries to make headway on politically wrenching national problems like immigration that Congress has failed to resolve. “We have such a high number of qualified folks — some of whom are perhaps in the right position to do it in terms of where they are in their political career and so forth, and that’s where I think Gov. Romney is going to look,” Rubio said, citing the likes of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, among others. “And that’s where I think we should be encouraged to look to that group of folks.” Asked if he wasn’t ready to be vice president, Rubio said there are “clearly people who have been around a lot longer than I have. … I’ll have more experience next year than I have this year.” “I think if I do a good job in the Senate, three, four, five, six years from now, I’ll have different opportunities to do things inside of government and outside of government,” he said. Rubio, who turns 41 next month, has seen his stock rise within the Republican Party after he drove incumbent Gov. Charlie Crist from the party in 2010 and won his state’s Senate race. And after his first year in the Senate, Rubio — along with Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas — is beginning to push the GOP to take a more proactive role on the immigration issue. For the past five years, Republicans in Congress have stayed far away from the emotional battle over illegal immigration that has divided their party and put them on the defensive with Latino voters in battleground states. Conservative activists have long fought any form of “amnesty” to illegal immigrants, splitting with GOP-aligned big business groups seeking a way to bring undocumented workers into the system. If Rubio leads his party into an immigration debate, it could revive passions not seen since 2007 when divisive rhetoric and bipartisan opposition helped kill George W. Bush’s comprehensive immigration overhaul by a 46-53 vote in the Senate. But if Rubio puts forward a proposal not sufficient to Latino voters, it could be seen as pandering to a voting bloc that has grown increasingly skeptical of the GOP. Romney’s campaign is being very cautious having yet to be briefed on the plan. “We must work together on protecting and strengthening legal immigration, securing our borders, ending illegal immigration in a civil but resolute manner and ensuring that any reforms do not encourage further illegal immigration,” Saul said. But Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, said Romney is shifting his positions from the hard-line stances he took to win over conservative voters in the primary, when he backed the tough Arizona immigration law, “associated himself with the most extreme anti-immigrant activists in the country” and initially pledged to veto the DREAM Act. While the DREAM Act is narrowly targeted to children of illegal immigrants and doesn’t deal with the parents of illegals, the back-and-forth of the campaign suggests how difficult of an issue this will be to resolve in the election season. Plus there are clear divisions within the Republican Party. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), No. 3 in Senate leadership, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, both said their party needs an immigration plan to talk about in the election season. “I think you have to have an answer to the question, and I think he’s working on what I think will be a Republican right-of-center solution that is consistent with our principles,” Thune said Thursday. “And hopefully in the end, will be able to attract a good amount of Republican support.” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a tea party favorite, said the GOP should be prepared to fight for tough enforcement policies. “A lot of us lean towards compassion, but my focus is still on getting a legal system that works,” DeMint said. “And that’s the best way to deal with the problem.” Mehlman, the anti-illegal immigration activist, said Rubio’s plans would just open the door to more illegal immigration in the future. “Sending a signal that bringing or sending children to the U.S. illegally will result in full or partial legal status for them will only encourage more people to violate the law,” Mehlman said. Democrats have called Rubio’s effort an election-year ploy — and said his proposal would lead to a “permanent underclass” of citizens. But on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) softened up his criticism of Rubio’s efforts. “I’m glad that he’s interested in seeing if we can work to a solution,” Reid told POLITICO. “But I believe there has to be a pathway to citizenship. He has not come to that yet [but] I hope he does.” Rubio said he doesn’t know how he’d deal with the much bigger problem of the millions of illegal immigrant adults who are in the country. And while he believes Hispanics are more likely to vote on economic issues, as most polls suggest, he said the GOP needs to do a better of job of speaking about immigration to appeal to Latino voters. Asked if Romney needed to lighten up his rhetoric, Rubio said the GOP has to better communicate it’s the pro-immigration party. “Not just Gov. Romney — but in general, over the last five years that [the] Republican Party has come to be viewed as the anti-illegal immigration party.”