Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio slammed the mainstream media on Tuesday for devoting more coverage to the killing of Cecil the lion than to so-called “sanctuary cities” that shield individuals from federal immigration laws.

In an interview with the conservative Newsmax TV, Rubio sharply criticized both the media and Democrats after a bill he co-sponsored that would crack down on sanctuary cities failed to advance in the US Senate. The Florida senator complained that the media essentially ignored a contentious issue in the broader immigration debate, thereby allowing Democrats to face “no consequences at all” for voting in response to “radical elements that believe that we shouldn’t enforce any of our immigration laws”.

“You’ve got a mainstream media out there that spends days covering the death of a lion in Africa that an American hunter killed, but does nothing about coverage on issues like this beyond touching upon it in the first few days,” Rubio said during an appearance on The Hard Line.



“And then those of us who step out and say this is wrong, we should do something about it, we’re somehow painted as some extreme element that simply wants to enforce the laws of this country.”



This isn’t the first time Rubio has invoked Cecil the lion to question coverage within the media. When a controversy erupted this summer over a sting operation against Planned Parenthood by anti-abortion activists, Rubio tweeted his frustration with media outrage over the lion but not aborted fetuses.

Rubio’s comments came shortly after Senate Republicans were unable to secure the votes to move legislation that would punish localities that have objected to enforcing federal immigration laws. The issue has become especially salient among Republicans on the presidential campaign trail, but Democrats on Tuesday seized in particular on Rubio’s support for the bill.

Sanctuary cities are those that have opted not to detain immigrants arrested locally for federal immigration violations. Policies vary, but many hinge on the rationale that detaining immigrants arrested for local violations could result in blanket criminalization of communities and erode trust between immigrants and law enforcement.

The sanctuary cities issue gained national prominence after the murder of Kate Steinle, a young woman who was fatally shot in San Francisco in July by a man who authorities said entered the US illegally and had already been deported five times. Steinle’s death, which was held up by the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to justify his controversial anti-immigration rhetoric, prompted Republicans in Congress to take up legislation in response.

Citing his background as the son of immigrants and from a neighborhood of mostly immigrants in west Miami, Rubio said he had a better grasp of the immigration issue than anyone else.



“I understand immigration – the good, the bad and the ugly. But this is not good,” Rubio said. “This part about people that are openly violating our laws, and then you have jurisdictions in our country receiving federal funding and basically refusing to cooperate with federal authorities, is unacceptable and unexplainable. It makes no sense and I think it’s just outrageous that these people can vote this way today and there will be no consequences and no accountability.”

The sanctuary cities bill needed 60 votes to cross a procedural hurdle, but fell short amid objections from Democrats. The final vote, 54-45, was almost entirely split along party lines with just two Democrats – both from conservative states – joining Republicans in favor of the bill.

The White House had issued a veto threat ahead of the vote, calling on Congress to instead take up comprehensive immigration reform that would also address security at the border.

“This bill fails to offer comprehensive reforms needed to fix the nation’s broken immigration laws and undermines current administration efforts to remove the most dangerous convicted criminals and to work collaboratively with state and local law enforcement agencies,” the White House said in a statement.

The anti-sanctuary cities efforts have also been criticized in editorials as “a knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy”, and by some law enforcement officials as having the potential to weaken their capabilities.

The sanctuary cities bill would withhold certain law enforcement grants from jurisdictions that refuse to comply with federal immigration requests, as well as impose a mandatory minimum prison sentence of at least five years for individuals convicted of repeated illegal reentry into the US. The latter provision was championed as “Kate’s Law” by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who has aggressively campaigned against illegal immigration and voted in favor of the bill.

In a fiery speech on the Senate floor, Cruz said it would “provide a moment of clarity” if Democrats voted to “stand with violent criminal illegal aliens”.

“Do you stand with the violent criminal illegal aliens who are being released over and over again?” Cruz said. “Because, mind you, a vote ‘No’ is to say the next time, the next murderer like Kate Steinle’s murderer comes in, we shouldn’t have a mandatory five-year prison sentence; instead we should continue sanctuary cities that welcome and embrace them, until perhaps it is our family members that lose their lives.”

Democrats used the opportunity to paint Republicans as anti-immigrant and focused their ire on Rubio, who made a rare appearance in the Senate to vote for the bill. In a sign of how seriously they are taking his campaign, Democrats immediately pounced – dubbing the legislation “The Trump-Rubio Sanctuary Cities Bill” and even holding a conference call with reporters to specifically target Rubio.

“As a son of immigrants, it’s distressing to see he forgets where he came from,” said Representative Xavier Becerra, the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, while asking of Rubio: “What drives you and why are you doing this, especially when you flip-flopped from your positions in the past on immigration?”

Rubio’s attempts to straddle both sides of the immigration debate, as well as his low attendance record in the Senate, have been the subject of recent scrutiny as he runs for president. Democrats said his decision to cast his first vote in nearly a month in support of the sanctuary cities bill was a reflection of the senator’s priorities.

When the Guardian asked the Democrats on the call why they were focused exclusively on Rubio, when there were other presidential candidates who voted for the bill, Becerra said Rubio “tries to distance himself from Ted Cruz and tries to portray himself as something different”.

Representative Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, added that Rubio “pretended to be something rational and realistic” on immigration reform.

“He’s the one that’s listening to the political winds in terms of what Trump is saying, and he’s the one who’s made the most dramatic shift from a position.”

Among other presidential candidates from the Senate is Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who voted for the sanctuary cities bill, while Vermont senator Bernie Sanders voted against it. South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham was not present for the vote.

In his interview, Rubio vowed to raise the sanctuary cities issue again if elected president.



“Step one in any process must be to be able to enforce our laws and part of enforcing our laws is making it clear that people are not going to be able to habitually ignore America’s immigration laws and find sanctuary and safety in the United States from federal authorities,” he said.

