Cruz and Rubio’s stance on immigration

From The Chicago Sun-Times: You’d never know it from their sound bites during debates and on the campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination, but less than three years ago Cuban American Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio supported the legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Cruz has denied it. Rubio, meanwhile, distances himself from legalization and a path to citizenship that was outlined in a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill he co-authored with seven other U.S. senators in 2013. They no doubt worry their past support for common-sense reform could be a death sentence to their presidential aspirations at a time when national front-runner Donald Trump has turned the primary season upside down.

In 2013, Cruz favored legalizing undocumented immigrants without offering a path to citizenship. He proposed an amendment to Rubio’s bill for just that reason. Yet, weeks ago he said he never supported legalization. Pushed for clarification in later weeks, he said his amendment was proposed in an attempt to kill the legislation.

In Thursday’s Fox News debate, Cruz was reminded of what he actually said when moderator Megyn Kelly asked him to watch a video clip. “I don’t want immigration reform to fail,” Cruz said in 2013. “I want immigration reform to pass. I believe if this amendment were to pass, the chances of this bill passing into law would increase dramatically.

“I believe if the amendments I introduced were adopted, that the bill would pass. And my effort in introducing them was to find a solution that reflected common ground and that fixed the problem.”

Rubio, on the other hand, should be proud that he helped to craft an immigration bill heavy on compromise in 2013. The Senate passed the bill; it was never called in the Republicancontrolled House. Since then Rubio has backpedaled from it.

Like other members of his party, Rubio is not sure where he should be on immigration. During his 2010 campaign for Senate, he told voters he did not support citizenship for undocumented immigrants or their legalization. During the debate Fox News aired some of his comments from that campaign, in which he equated citizenship to amnesty.

Cornered by the moderators, Rubio switched his focus to the Islamic State and border security. He and other candidates fail to mention that the undocumented population has dipped every year since 2008, according to the Center for Migration Studies. As for border security, Rubio’s bill had allocated billions for it.

Finally, Rubio came around to say he would not deport 12 million undocumented immigrants. “We will see what the American people are willing to support,” he said of legalization and a path to citizenship.

What you haven’t heard from Trump, Cruz and Rubio is that most of America believes that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to remain in this country legally as long as they meet other requirements.

You can bet that if Rubio or Cruz (or Trump) win the nomination, they’ll point out that percentage to get conservatives to soften their hard line on immigration and to win over moderates.

Romney tried that in 2012. After aligning himself with Arizona’s tough immigration policies during the primary season, Romney tried to come back to middle America for the general election.

How did that turn out?