Rubio outlines immigration proposal

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio / AP Photo

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., outlined his proposals for immigration reform in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in a plan that is sure to upset some within his own party. But Rubio argues that immigration is an important issue to Hispanic voters, a voting bloc that the Republicans lost ground with in 2012.

"[T]he immigration issue is a gateway issue for Hispanics, no doubt about it. No matter what your stance is on a number of other issues, if people somehow come to believe that you don't like them or want them here, it's difficult to get them to listen to anything else," Rubio said.

The Republican Party's struggle with Hispanics in the 2012 elections was most glaring at the top of the ticket as Mitt Romney only received 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. Party leaders now admit that they have to do more to reach out to the growing demographic.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said he would like to propose a "comprehensive package of bills", which would include increased access for high-skilled workers, such as engieneers and doctors, a guest worker program for low-skilled workers, including farm workers. He supports workplace enforcement and stronger border security.

But the real challenge revolves around what to do with the up to 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S.

He says his plan for that group "is not blanket amnesty or a special pathway to citizenship." Instead, they would have to get in line to apply for legal status and adhere to challenging requirements, but no immigrant would have to leave return to their home country to start the process.

The waiting time for a green card "would have to be long enough to ensure that it's not easier to do it this way than it would be the legal way," he told the Wall Street Journal. "But it can't be indefinite either. I mean it can't be unrealistic, because then you're not really accomplishing anything. It's not good for our country to have people trapped in this status forever. It's been a disaster for Europe."

Potentially signaling a shift within the party, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who was Romney's running mate last year and, like Rubio, is considered a possible 2016 presidential candidate, came out in support of Rubio's general proposal. On his Facebook page, Ryan wrote, "Senator Rubio is exactly right on the need to fix our broken immigration system. I support the principles he's outlined: modernization of our immigration laws; stronger security to curb illegal immigration; and respect for the rule of law in addressing the complex challenge of the undocumented population. Our future depends on an immigration system that works."

[immigrant_ofthepast]

If a person hitched hiked a ride on a plane or any other mode of transportation, would he be rewarded for doing so, in any country? Why should illegal immigrants be rewarded. Most of the blame is on the federal government for going years with none to very little accountability for the laws that we have on illegal immigration. In the late 60's hispanics joined for one cause, getting recognized for legally contributing to America. Today, the Catholic church and Harvard push and shove the idea that all hispanics want illegal immigrants to be pardoned. What kind of message are we sending to anyone who wants to disrespect our laws and rules? In the 80's politicians looked the other way when the illegal problems began to increase drastically. The Catholic church get most of their money from illegal immigrants who are being told that the government owes them humanity rights. Does Mexico, Cuba, Africa, and any other country where we get illegal immigrants, give them humanity rights? Bush, and many other politicians decided that the illegal immigrants would put money into our social security system and that is why they passed the free education program for all. They need to do research to see if that worked out? Because, we wanted to use them to refill our social security coffers and work for minimum wage, we are in all this mess. Harvard even recruited volunteers and paid expert lobby forces to push benefits for illegals to get educated to contribute to social security. Instead they take from social security.

[nearl451]

Rubio's ideas and suggestions are good. It is his motive that is suspect. Does he really want a successful solution, or is he merely looking for Hispanic votes?

On the other hand, I saw no hint of "self deportation" anywhere in his treatise. That's an improvement in itself.

[nearl451]

A humane solution is required, not because of the practical cost of the alternative, but because we are better than to treat people as sub-human and our sense of justice and fairness demands a better, more permanent solution.

In that regard, President Bush was a leader on this topic.

[Housessmart]

Legal and Illegal Immigration Pushes Welfare Spending Over $1 Trillion

More than a quarter of the $1 trillion spent on welfare in the United States goes directly to the households of immigrants, illegal parents and their children. And two out of three jobs created in the last four years went to legal immigrants and illegal aliens. These jobs would lift Americans out of hardship, and reduce entitlement spending still more. Instead, just last month, the unemployment rate among black Americans rose to 14 percent.


The problem isn't only an illegal alien issue; most legal immigrants use at least one welfare program. The problem is simply too much immigration. In fact, we are told many illegal migrants and immigrants have gone home since the start of the recession, but yet the number of legal immigrants in America continues to explode at over a million annually.

Some immigration makes good judgment, included the abbreviated STEM variety of scientific professionals, technical workers, engineers and mathematicians' But such gigantic levels of legal and illegal immigration are keeping Americans trapped in poverty, but with the expansion of children slipping into America in deliberately gain citizenship by their parents bringing them here. This explosion of people is causing almost irreversible issues with the U.S. federal deficit, not to mention the busting with all 50 state budgets! Insist Senators and House Republicans get the message that we cannot afford to subsidize the financial problems of the world's population anymore. Tell them to stop importing poverty. Tell them to halt it at the border and at the airline terminals. Do what other countries do and actually track foreign nationals, who overstay their visitor visas and cannot be that complicated.

America spends more than a trillion dollars on programs to help our own unemployed and disadvantaged. So why are we importing millions of immigrants to compete for jobs and resources with them? Why is it not a Felony to enter this sovereign nation without a proper visa?

Congress should help the jobless and destitute Americans in getting decent-paying employment and not importing millions of new workers to take entry-level jobs. In February 24, 1995 the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by civil rights activist Barbara Jordan, called for cutting annual legal immigration in half. This would still be double the historical average, and allow for plenty of reasonable immigration and not a over populated country of desperate, poor people. The primary reason for the cutting immigration that the commission cited was that every time immigration levels have been high -- and they are higher in the past decade than every -- wages fell and poverty rose. With so many millions of unemployed Americans and the nation in such dire fiscal crises, the commission's findings are even more important now than ever.

As Congress considers many "immigration reform" proposals, keep in mind that the reforms we need are those that result in more job openings, less poverty, and lower spending. The American citizenry must demand "THE LEGAL WORKFORCE ACT" to remove illegal aliens from the workplace using E-Verify. Also needed is the "BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL", to end given immediate citizenship to smuggled children into the United States as it is the most expensive negative payout. This amendment in the 14TH Amendment was a legal advantage to freed slaves and their future offspring, not for every smuggled child into this country.

[nearl451]

All that time and all those words you wrote based on a false impression.

Really is a shame. What a waste of time and energy.

The truth is that illegal and legal immigrants give more to the economy than they take away from it.

[ammo17]

and these phonie,lying politicians are telling us that us we are at a fiscal cliff,and the country is broke.how can this be?we can put these 12 million people on the welfare rolls if they aren`t on them already,or we can put them on the social security rolls or better yet we can put them on the unemployment rolls until we find the 12 million jobs for them,and yet people who do the lawful way and have to wait years and spend their money will have to wait.we are being run by idiots and there is no excuse for it,get rid of them all,they all suck.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

It's not a bad starting point. I'm not adverse to allowing some illegals to stay while a green card is processed as long as the person can substantiate distinctly worthwhile contributions to American society while living here. However, send everyone who's used their time here detrimentally back to their home countries to wait. Also, put them on the bottom of the green card list considering their illegitimate prior bid at becoming an American.

The trouble with amnesty is that it has become routine in American politics. It keeps rewarding those who got it dishonorably, and that's a pretty stupid recipe to obtain quality immigrants. Folks are sneaking in through holes in the fence knowing amnesty is coming sooner or later. Any amnesty this time must be tied to eliminating the holes in the fence.

Another Rubio problem is with employers as immigration enforcers. We tried that. It didn't work, partly because employers do not have access to databases that the government is required to keep secret by law. Some employers refuse to pay even minimum wages, and some employers are immigrants themselves who could care less about immigration law. The government must accept responsibility for police work, as well as adopting temporary work programs that provide migrant workers to employers who need it.

If a farmer needs migrant workers to harvest crops, then let him apply for as many work permits as needed. He provides food, housing, and maybe some beer money for the workers. At the end of the season, the worker picks up a big pile of cash when crossing the border. It's not very different than American citizens who work as fish processors in Alaska.

[norcal441]

Here's where the government defecates on everyone who chooses to obey the laws of the land.

They have no idea the amount of damage they are doing to the hearts of citizens.

[norcal441]

Here's where the government defecates of everyone who chooses to obey the laws of the land.

They have no idea the amount of damage they are doing to the hearts of citizens.

[vortex3600]

Round them up and ship them back. They don't register for the draft and are allowed to steal from Americans.

[mrhulot]

illegal immigration is immoral says Catholic Father Bascio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnZPr_P5lD4

[PourpaixPourpaix]

I'm not a fan of illegal immigration, but it's nowhere near as bad as humpty-dumptying the alter boys. The Catholic Church is about as far from a bastion of morality as it gets.

[prm777]

I agree with those who say we need to enforce the laws on the books and we need to have a strong immigration policy, but right now we're in a situation that has been allowed to go on for so long, that we're never going to resolve it without some compromise. I believe that Rubio is trying to strike the correct balance -- accept where we are and the fact that we will never win the battle, nor will the Republican party win over Hispanic voters, if we don't make some accomodations for those who have been in the U.S. for some time now.

We definitely need to draw a line in the sand and put some teeth in our immigration laws to prevent even more people from entering illegally, but for those who are here, make a path to citizenship so that they don't have to continue living in the shadows -- many/most of them are hard-working, law-abiding (other than immigration) citizens who contribute to our society and can do even more to contribute if/when they obtain legal citizenship. During the naturalization process, though, I believe there should be stiff penalties for those who commit crimes (felonies), e.g., gang activity, etc. -- they've already broken the law in how they got here -- if they are intent to continue breaking the law, then they should be deported immediately.