Florida Sen. Marco Rubio believes Democrats have to support the enforcement of current immigration laws before any reform effort can successfully move through Congress.
Speaking on Fox News Wednesday, Rubio said Democrats are aghast at current efforts by the Trump administration to deport illegal immigrants. But he said that attitude is going to hurt any effort by the federal government to crack down on illegal immigration and pass reform that can help the country.
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“If you’re not enforcing the laws you have now, why are people going to believe you’re going to enforce the laws you have in the future?” Rubio asked.
In order to get reform done, the first step must be modernizing the immigration system to a merit-based system that prioritizes immigrants based on what they can add to the economy, Rubio said. After that comes figuring out a way to keep illegal immigrants who are not running afoul of the law.
“It has to happen in those steps, and if Democrats are willing to accept that order and in those steps, and if Democrats are willing to accept that direction, then we can get something done,” he said.
The progressive left’s influence on Democratic lawmakers is going to end up costing them a chance at reform and leave an untenable status quo in place, he said.
“If they continue to fight for the unrealistic, let’s give everybody blanket amnesty or let’s give everybody citizenship or let’s do it backwards or let’s be against any effort to enforce the law beyond symbolic things, then I think we’re going to be stuck in the cycle we’re in,” Rubio said.
