As Senator Marco Rubio continues to campaign across Iowa with the objective of garnering as much support from the evangelical voting bloc, he better start praying that Americans will look past his questionable support for the Obama immigration reform agenda.
Rubio has been talking up “God” at every turn, telling Iowans that not only is he Christian, and not only is he “influenced” by his faith, but that it was “the single greatest influence” in his life, and that he will never hide from it.Well, Rubio better do some serious praying for his campaign’s success, now that he has doubled-down on his position of allowing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
During a recent campaign town hall meeting in Iowa, Rubio stated the following after being asked about his position on immigration:
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Completing this poll grants you access to Shark Tank updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.“I don’t believe we’re not going to round up and deport 12 million people, I’m not going to lie to you about that.” Rubio said. He said that many illegal immigrants would not be able to stay – because they were either criminals or hadn’t been in the United States long enough.
Rubio said that illegal immigrants who would be allowed to stay under his plan would do so only after paying “very significant consequences” for violating immigration laws, such as passing a background check and paying fines. He insisted that many in the Republican party think illegal immigrants should never be allowed to get anything other than a legal work permit.
“Some people are saying that’s all you should ever have, I would argue that’s probably the majority position in the Republican party right now,” he said. But Rubio said he supported allowing illegal immigrants to apply for a green card.“I have personally said, that I am open to them being able to apply for – not be awarded – apply for a green card. You can’t apply for citizenship, you can apply for a green card. And you have to have that for five years before you can even try to be anything else,” he said.
Rubio then conceded that his 2013 amnesty-like immigration reform Senate bill was “a big mistake,” adding that the border should have been secured first before any piece of comprehensive immigration legislation was introduced.
“Not just say you’re going to do it, that was a big mistake from two and a half years ago OK? You can’t just say we’re going to pass a law that’s going to do it – they want to see you do it first,” he said. “And only after it’s in place and working are people prepared to do anything else.”
With Rubio running in a distant third place in Iowa, and in second place in New Hampshire with four other presidential candidates, Rubio’s campaign may only survive on a prayer, as both Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are also out trying to capture the “Jesus vote.”