Conservatives should give Rubio a chance on immigration reform
Here we go again.
In Washington, a so called "bipartisan" group of Senators agreed on the outline of an immigration reform package.
In Las Vegas, President Obama gave another campaign speech including the "si se puede" chants.
The devil is still in the details. I remind you that there is nothing written down or agreed to. All we have is broad outline from 8 Senators and another campaign speech by President Obama.
Let me make it very clear. I hate illegal immigration as much as anybody. I am a naturalized US citizen and came to the US legally. The key difference between the US and much of the world is the "rule of law."
At the same time, hating illegal immigration or calling everything "amnesty" is not going to solve the problem. This is why I've always favored a plan that offers a path to legalization to people who are willing to do a few things.
I said path to legalization NOT citizenship! A "work visa" is different than US citizenship in my mind.
I will support the Rubio approach. Let's hope that the "everything is amnesty" crowd can hit the brakes and understand that this proposal is different. Asking someone to pay a fine, complete a background check and accept a probation period is not amnesty. Asking that after a real effort to secure the border should fix this problem for once and for all.
As Senator Rubio said yesterday, he will not support a proposal that overlooks border security. He also indicated that the country can not afford adding 11 million people to Obama-Care.
I say this to my fellow conservatives: Let's give the Rubio approach a chance. Let's put the immigration reform debate behind us so that we can concentrate on talking to Hispanics about the utter failure of Obama economics, indifference toward Latin America and running up a debt that Hispanic children will not afford to pay.
Silvio Canto is the author of "Cubanos in Wisconsin," a book about his family leaving communist Cuba.