Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) defended the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration bill on the Andrea Tantaros Show today. Rubio on Thursday voted with most Republicans to add a security amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). But that amendment went down on a mostly party-line vote. Cornyn’s amendment would have given border security a higher priority in the bill, and made it easier to deport illegal-alien criminals who drunk drive and are caught in domestic abuse cases, among other crimes.

Sen. Rubio claimed that the Corker-Hoeven amendment, which would beef up border security, is a “dramatic improvement” over the bill. Tantaros fired: “If this amendment is so good, why wasn’t it in the original bill?”

Rubio answered that he is listening to input to try to improve the bill, and that the amendment in his judgement improves the bill.

Tantaros asked Rubio if the Democrats are using the bill to change the demographics in states like Texas to give them a lock on power. Rubio admitted that some “political operatives” are hoping to use the bill that his Gang of Eight is offering to do just that.

In fact, the Texas Democratic Party explicitly bases its long-term strategy on current demographic changes underway in the Lone Star State. Those changes would be accelerated if the Rubio-Schumer immigration bill becomes law. “There’s no doubt that politics are involved in this,” Rubio admitted as he criticized groups on the left that continue to push for less border enforcement and more government benefits for illegal aliens.

Tantaros asked Rubio about the FAIR chart showing a how a litany of crimes committed by illegal aliens would be treated. Rubio agreed that “that should be fixed.” He said that he would support amendments to close off those waivers, and hopes those amendments are offered in the Senate. Rubio’s defensive response raised the questions of whether Sen. Rubio knows what is in the bill bearing his name, and why he tells Americans that it is “95% perfect.”

The Andrea Tantaros Show is produced by the Fox and Rice Experience for Talk Radio Network.

Update: Listen to the entire interview here.

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