Marco Rubio is delusional or tries to deceive on legalization (immigration, amnesty)

Marco Rubio continues selling out both the GOP and the U.S. with his plans for comprehensive immigration reform (aka amnesty). See his name's link for his past efforts that have harmed the U.S. and for a discussion of why his immigration ideas won't work.

With his latest thoughts, Rubio shows that he's either delusional, or he's intentionally trying to deceive.

An interview in the Wall Street Journal [1] includes this:

"Here's how I envision it," [Rubio] says. "[All the illegal aliens in the U.S.] would have to come forward. They would have to undergo a background check." Anyone who committed a serious crime would be deported. "They would be fingerprinted," he continues. "They would have to pay a fine, pay back taxes, maybe even do community service. They would have to prove they've been here for an extended period of time. They understand some English and are assimilated. Then most of them would get legal status and be allowed to stay in this country."

The special regime he envisions is a form of temporary limbo. "Assuming they haven't violated any of the conditions of that status," he says, the newly legalized person could apply for permanent residency, possibly leading to citizenship, after some years—but Mr. Rubio doesn't specify how many years. He says he would also want to ensure that enforcement has improved before opening that gate.

The waiting time for a green card "would have to be long enough to ensure that it's not easier to do it this way than it would be the legal way," he says. "But it can't be indefinite either. I mean it can't be unrealistic, because then you're not really accomplishing anything. It's not good for our country to have people trapped in this status forever. It's been a disaster for Europe."

What Rubio describes above will never happen. He's selling a fantasy plan, the stuff of rainbows and unicorns. The only question is whether he actually believes it himself.

What will the other side do?

To see why it won't happen, imagine for a minute that you're a leader of the Democratic Party or a leader of one of the many well-funded far-left groups that oppose immigration enforcement. Are you going to let what Rubio describes happen? Of course not. You're going to work night and day to water down Rubio's proposal to increase the numbers of illegal aliens who'd eventually get on the "path to citizenship" (also known as the "path to voting for Democrats"). For instance, if Rubio would only legalize those who've been here for ten years, the Democrats and far-left groups will work to lower that to two years (with loopholes).

Even if Rubio's plan passes mostly intact and the Democrats and far-left groups sign on to it, they'll go back on their promises before the ink is dry. The very next day they'll start trying to undercut the "tough" provisions they signed on to the day before.

The GOP simply won't have the will or ability to oppose them. For instance, the supposed reason for such amnesties from the GOP perspective is to reach out to Hispanics. If the GOP fought against Democratic efforts to make things easier for more Hispanics to join Rubio's amnesty, the same false dynamic would come into play: the GOP wouldn't fight against attempts to weaken amnesty lest they impede their Hispanic outreach.

We'd still have many illegal aliens

But, wait, there's more. There's also Rubio's claim that all the illegal aliens in the U.S. "would have to come forward". That's not going to happen. Only a fraction of the illegal aliens eligible for Obama's DACA have come forward; participation in Rubio's massive amnesty would be higher, but criminals certainly aren't going to come forward. Thus, the idea that Rubio's amnesty would enable us to deport more criminals is absurd. That would require immigration enforcement, something that the Democrats and the far-left try to impede.

Instead of fighting against attempts to impede enforcement, Rubio would increase the power base of the Democrats and the far-left. They'd use that increased power base to impede enforcement even more effectively. So, we'd still have a large number of illegal aliens in the U.S. and we'd still have a large population of criminal aliens.

And, those groups that currently enable illegal immigration in order to increase their power would have more power from which to more effectively enable future illegal immigration.

Imagine for a minute you're Janet Murguia, the head of the NCLR. Marco Rubio just helped you get even more political power than you had before. Are you going to use that power to assist immigration enforcement and make sure Rubio's amnesty is followed? Or, are you going to use your increased power base to grab even more power by continuing to do what your organization has done for decades: enabling illegal immigration? (Hint: there's zero chance of the former happening: her, NCLR, the ACLU, and on and on are going to continue doing after amnesty what they've been doing before amnesty). And, they probably won't even thank Rubio and the GOP for giving them additional power.

Assimilation?

Then there's the bit about "are assimilated". It's unclear whether Rubio is saying that would be a condition to amnesty, or whether he thinks amnestying them would assimilate them. For the former case, the Democrats would fight against any sort of "assimilation test" (imagine the race card playing they'd engage in on that!) For the latter case, Rubio would make assimilation less likely: he's giving in to identity politics, he's giving in to the quest of some for racial power, and he's giving in to far-left groups that oppose assimilation (such as the National Council of La Raza and even worse groups).

Disagree?

If I haven't made my case, I want to hear about it. Leave a comment below if you still believe anything Rubio says.

Further reading

For more on him, see Marco Rubio. For more on amnesties, see comprehensive immigration reform, DREAM Act, and 1986 amnesty. To see who would try to weaken Rubio's grand plans, see the list of immigration groups and people. Many of those groups or people have dozens of posts here detailing how they enable illegal immigration.

What you must do

The only known reason (so far) Rubio is trying to harm the U.S. with amnesty is to help his political prospects. To reduce his ability and willingness to push amnesty, reduce his support by turning those who support him or who are neutral on him into his opponents. Many of his supporters might not be familiar enough with immigration to know how his plans won't work. Educating them could help turn them into those who'd at least oppose him on amnesty. One easy thing you can do is to look up those who discuss Rubio favorably on Twitter, and then send them the link to this post or the other posts on Rubio. In that case, you might also add these Rubio staffers into the tweet so they know Rubio's actions will be likely to reduce his power: @AlexConant @BrookeSammon @albertemartinez @Val_Mack @BurgosGOP, @alipardo.

ADDED: also contact Cesar Conda, Rubio's Chief of Staff: @CesarConda

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[1] "Marco Rubio: Riding to the Immigration Rescue/Marco Rubio, Florida's GOP senator, unveils his reform ideas to 'modernize' the system and put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship." by WSJ Editorial Board member Matthew Kaminski: peekURL.com/zbC2WjE