Marco Rubio's Immigration Pivot: A Search for Solutions or Politics as Usual?

Recently Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said something that went largely unnoticed by the media but could foreshadow a seismic shift in the immigration debate.

Speaking with reporters after his keynote speech to the Latino Coalition Annual Economic Summit, the first-term Florida Republican speculated that Democrats may be better off politically with a broken immigration system than with one that actually functions.

"I think there are some in the Democratic Party -- not all -- but I think there are some people in the Democratic Party that think that the immigration issue is more valuable to them unsolved," CNN quoted Rubio as saying. "That it gives them something to talk about, that they can go back to Hispanic communities and make unrealistic promises every two years and win votes."

Rubio added, "And I think for some -- not all -- but for some Democrats, the issue of immigration is better politically if they just leave it the way it is now because they can use it against Republicans."
Rubio's claim is a serious indictment. Given the millions of people whose lives are impacted daily by immigration dysfunction -- including the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens whose families are torn apart each year by the deportation of a loved one -- it follows that if Rubio were sincere about his allegation then he -- and the Republican party -- would be all about fixing the immigration system so that it works for American families and businesses.

Yet, since he arrived in Washington in January 2011, Rubio has seesawed between anti-immigrant and vaguely pro-immigrant positions, but doesn't really seem to have a core on the issue. And he has done little to set himself apart from those in the GOP who continually do what they can to stymie legislative and administrative attempts to ameliorate the harshness of the current law. Nor has Rubio stood up to the anti-immigrant fringe that rabidly opposes anything short of deporting the 12 million undocumented immigrants and virtually locking America's doors to newcomers. read full Story @ www.huffingtonpost.com