UPDATE: Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant reached out to Breitbart News after the publication of this article to clarify the senator’s position.

“Senator Rubio does not support shutting down DHS,” Conant said in a statement. “But he does support stopping the new executive order on immigration and is willing to support any approach we could get passed to stop it. But the President had made clear he will veto any effort to stop his unconstitutional order. And Senate Democrats have made clear they will not even end their filibuster on the DHS funding bill. The result will be a DHS shutdown which would be harmful to our national security. The answer is not for Republicans to surrender and pass a clean funding bill. The answer is for the President and Senate Democrats to abandon the executive order and cooperate in passing a series of immigration bills beginning with real border security.”

Conant also provided the entire transcript of Rubio’s remarks, which includes the exact quote from above and means the meaning of this story and the context in which it was put are accurate.

The original story begins here. The full transcript appears blockquoted at the end of the article.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has officially caved to President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty, another immigration fail for the once-promising potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate.

“During a visit to Las Vegas, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday Congress should pass a bill to fund Homeland Security without conditions, essentially stepping back from a battle with President Barack Obama over his executive actions on immigration,” the Las Vegas Review Journal reports. “The possible Republican presidential candidate said national security is too important to hold up funding, although he disagrees with Obama’s moves to go around Congress to halt deportations of up to 5 million undocumented immigrants.”

“We have to fund Homeland Security,” Rubio said in a press conference there. “We can’t let Homeland Security shut down.”

Rubio was the face of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill in the last Congress, a bill that passed the Senate thanks, in large part, to his efforts to push Republicans to support it. Rubio took a dive in the polls because of his efforts to get the amnesty bill through Congress—and specifically the fact he misled many in order to get it passed.

But, after it passed the Senate, Rubio turned on his own bill. He worked to help undermine its chances in the House of Representatives.

Now, his support for DHS funding without restrictions on Obama’s executive amnesty runs in contravention to almost every Republican member of Congress. It comes at an odd time, since federal district Judge Andrew S. Hanen just put an immediate halt to amnesty through an injunction that the administration has now been forced to comply with. Republican leaders across Capitol Hill have stood by their push to block any funding for the president’s amnesty action.

Senate Democrats have been blocking any efforts by the Senate GOP majority to consider the legislation, using a procedural filibuster led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Hanen’s ruling means there’s no reason to maintain that filibuster.

“This ruling underscores what the President has already acknowledged publicly 22 times: He doesn’t have the authority to take the kinds of actions he once referred to as ‘ignoring the law’ and ‘unwise and unfair.’ Senate Democrats–especially those who’ve voiced opposition to the President’s executive overreach—should end their partisan filibuster of Department of Homeland Security funding,” McConnell said.

Senate GOP conference chairman Sen. John Thune (R-SD) backed him up, as did Senate GOP whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), among others.

Even House Speaker John Boehner and his entire leadership team have backed the conservative position on this, which Rubio now stands in contravention of while he joins the Democrats’ opposition to the House-passed bill.

“The president said 22 times he did not have the authority to take the very action on immigration he eventually did, so it is no surprise that at least one court has agreed,” Boehner said on Wednesday. “We will continue to follow the case as it moves through the legal process. Hopefully, Senate Democrats who claim to oppose this executive overreach will now let the Senate begin debate on a bill to fund the Homeland Security department.”

It remains to be seen what ramifications this will have on Rubio, should he decide to seek the White House, but the Democrats already clearly smell weakness in him as Democratic National Committee chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) is actively considering a U.S. Senate bid for his seat.

TRANSCRIPT OF RUBIO’S REMARKS: