Mark Levin highlighted what he described as Senator Marco Rubio’s previous supporting of widespread amnesty for illegal aliens on Monday. Taking aim at Rubio’s latest reframing of events as having attempted to send the Gang of Eight amnesty bill to the House of Representatives for conservative amendments, Levin noted that the Florida senator opposed such proposed conservative amendments from Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Mike Lee, and Senator Jeff Sessions.
Rubio has recently stated that proposed amnesty bill – what he called the “Senate immigration law” when speaking at a campaign rally – was never going to become law, stating that given the Democratic majority in the Senate at the time, it “was the best [Republicans] could do.”
Accusing Rubio of “rewriting history”, Levin said the Florida senator had “stood shoulder-to-shoulder” with Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Dick Durbin, and Senator Lindsey Graham.
“Marco Rubio will not say that the Gang of Eight was wrong, that he shouldn’t have done it, that he misled the people of Florida, he misled conservatives and Tea Party activists all across the country But he did. That’s what happened. That’s why he’s so defensive,” said Levin.
Speaking with Sessions, Levin cut to the heart of the matter by stating that no discussion of amendments to the amnesty bill would be necessary if not for the existence of the bill.
The Rubio campaign has been accusing Cruz of duplicity over the issue of amnesty given the Texas senator’s proposed amendments to the now defunct bill which would have prevented its illegal alien beneficiaries from ever being eligible for citizenship. Rubio has described the proposed amendments as evidence of Cruz’s previous support for amnesty, especially in light statements in Senate Judiciary Committee calling for “immigration reform” to pass. Cruz has stated that his proposed amendments amounted to “poison pills” for the bill, in that he knew the bill’s proponents would not accept such limitations and that bill would effectively be killed.
Sessions concurred with Levin in describing Cruz as a consistent opponent of amnesty. Also noted was that the Gang of Eight opposed all such proposed amendments.
“The Gang of Eight had been meeting in secret for months, with President Obama. It was President Obama’s bll, in large part, along with Schumer and the Gang of Eight. They had the Chamber of Commerce, and they had La Raza, and they had the ACLU, and they had all these groups, but no law enforcement people were in it. No American citizens who were about to lose their jobs were invited in these secret meetings,” said Sessions, “[Cruz] opposed it.”
“Cruz, and you, and Lee, and some of the others opposed the bill and were supporting amendments to try and kill it. Am I right or wrong?” asked Levin.
“Yes, that’s exactly right,” responded Sessions.
Levin has previously called out Rubio for dishonest criticisms of Cruz.
During the Republican debate this past Saturday, Rubio repeated his obfuscation of Cruz’s record on the issue of illegal immigration and amnesty.
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