Sen. Rubio to CNN’s Dana Bash: “…no one can become a legal permanent resident of the United States — until we complete 700 miles of real border fencing…”
CNN’s Dana Bash spoke with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) today about his views on immigration reform. Highlights from the interview are below and a full transcript is posted on http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS.
PLEASE CREDIT — CNN’s Dana Bash
Highlight from Interview
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DANA BASH, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senator, as you well know, there are a number of fellow conservatives out there who say this is just a smoke screen and it doesn’t change the fact that what they believe you have agreed to is amnesty for illegal immigrants.
SEN. MARCK RUBIO, (R) FLORIDA: Well, first of all, anyone who’s in this country illegally is going to have to undergo a background check, they’re going to have to pay a substantial fine for having violated our laws, and in return for that the only thing they get different from what they have now is they’re going to have to start paying taxes. We’ll know who they are.
Right now they’re here already. We’re not talking new people, we’re talking people living here now that have been here for — at least since December of 2011. And the only thing they’re going to do now that they’re not doing is they’re going to be paying taxes and undergoing a background check and paying a fine.
Beyond that we have very significant border measures that are now going to be amended onto the bill which basically says that no one can become a legal permanent resident of the United States until we add — until we complete 700 miles of real border fencing, until we add — double the size of the border patrol to 40,000 by adding 20,000 new agents, until E-Verify is fully implemented, an entry/exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays is fully implements, and until a very dramatic technology plan is fully implemented.
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BASH: How many votes do you think this is ultimately going to get you? Obviously you probably know more than anybody. You’ve been working your fellow colleagues.
RUBIO: I don’t know the exact number, but I think it will bring a substantial number of conservatives on board.
BASH: Enough to get through the House, or even to get the House to take it up?
RUBIO: Well, listen, the House is in a whole other process. I’m not in the position to tell the House what to do. They’ll have their own product, they’re going to have their own views, and we’re going to wait for them to do their part of it, and we’ll see where we go from there.
Our job now is to get the strongest possible legislation and measures out of the Senate.
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BASH: You understand the politics of this probably better than anybody within the Republican party. For someone like you from a diverse state with likely higher ambition politically, this is important. For somebody who is in a conservative, very red state voting for something like immigration reform hurts them rather than helps them. How do you overcome that?
RUBIO: Well, I understand why conservatives are upset. They’ve seen all these promises in the past that haven’t been delivered. That’s why we’re saying nobody can become a legal permanent resident of the United States unless these border measures pass, all five of them. That’s why we have to do it that way because otherwise it won’t happen. That’s been the evidence in the past.
I understand why people are frustrated. I do. We shouldn’t do this for politics. I can tell you politically this is as much a negative as it is a positive. People are really upset and I respect it and I understand it. By the other token this is hurting America. This should be about helping the United States. And if nothing passes, this disaster we have now, that’s what’s going to stay in place.
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