Marco Rubio: "Half baked and seriously flawed"

Marco Rubio: "Half baked and seriously flawed"

... said it was a "mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress," calling the proposal "half baked and seriously flawed," and declaring, "If actually proposed, the president's bill would be dead on arrival in Congress."

Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, an independent nonpartisan research center in Washington, said the eight-year temporary status for illegal immigrants in the document obtained by USA Today was “essentially the same as the probationary status” envisioned in a proposal developed by a bipartisan group of eight senators. During that probationary period, Mr. Papademetriou said, immigrants would have temporary visas with full work authorization.

The White House, not crazy enough to believe that Congress will actually come up with an immigration reform bill, has been working on a backup plan, an immigration bill of its own, some details of which leaked over the weekend. That, of course, activated one of the ironclad rules of Obama-era politics: if Barack Obama supports something, even something Republicans have historically supported, Republicans will denounce it . Failed vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan called it "counterproductive." Failed presidential candidate John McCain whined that Obama "has had no communication with Republicans on the issue, unlike the previous four presidents that I've dealt with" (ignore that three of those presidents were Republicans). Future presidential hopeful Marco Rubio:Half baked and seriously flawed? That would certainly differentiate it from the bipartisan Senate framework, in which Rubio is a participant, where no one can seem to agree if the border commission is advisory or can outright block a pathway to citizenship. And, uhh: The White House emphasized that the president continues to want Congress to act, and that this bill only becomes relevant if (as per usual) Congress makes a lot of noise but doesn't actually get a bill done. At that point, in case voters were in any doubt who was standing in the way of immigration reform, the administration will press this legislation. And Republicans, having failed to do anything to that point while a significant fraction of their House caucus demonizes brown people, will insist that they were totally going to pass something if only the president hadn't ruined it by being all partisan (i.e. submitting a bill).

Support President Obama's call for comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship.