Donald Trump has been relentless in his criticism of Marco Rubio’s stance on immigration, but the Florida senator shot back Wednesday and called out Trump for his own flip-flops on the issue.
In an interview with Fox News, Rubio hit Trump for having long been a proponent of amnesty for immigrants and the DREAM Act, both of which Trump vehemently opposes now as he sits as one of the front-runners for the GOP nomination.
Rubio made the remarks when asked why Trump is polling ahead of him and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, at a time when Trump’s position on building a wall and other aspects of his immigration plan are popular among the GOP primary electorate.
“First of all, Donald was a supporter of amnesty and of the DREAM Act, and he changed those positions just to run for president,” Rubio shot back.
In recent weeks, Trump has been non-stop in his criticism of the Florida senator. On Tuesday, Trump called Rubio “very weak” on immigration, while also going after him for his personal finances. However, Rubio’s comments are the first time he’s gone after Trump for his complicated history on immigration.
Back in November 2012, Trump famously ripped into Mitt Romney over his remarks on immigration, which Trump argued were “mean-spirited.” Trump also told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, as noted by The Glenn Beck Show and National Review, that illegal immigrants should have “a path” to citizenship.
“You have to give them a path,” Trump said. “You have 20 million, 30 million, nobody knows what it is. It used to be 11 million. Now, today I hear it’s 11, but I don’t think it’s 11. I actually heard you probably have 30 million. You have to give them a path, and you have to make it possible for them to succeed. You have to do that.”
Rubio, who had a breakout performance last Thursday in the third GOP debate, has also enjoyed a bump in the polls recently. A new Quinnipiac poll shows him in third nationally with 14 percent, although Trump leads in the poll with 24 percent.
