Schlafly pulls back veil on Rubio's open-borders record

Phyllis Schlafly

Sen. Marco Rubio, already struggling to consolidate the support of the Republican establishment after a disastrous weekend presidential race debate performance, now has another obstacle in his quest for the party's nomination.

Legendary conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly and her organization Eagle Forum have released a new report detailing what she called Rubio's long history of "betraying" conservatives.

The memo details specific promises made by Rubio to conservative supporters when he was running for Senate. It also offers evidence of how he broke those vows once elected to the United States Senate. At the top of the list is amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"His stance on immigration is just a disaster," said Schlafly, a WND columnist. "He was part of the Gang of Eight and they were trying to give us amnesty. I think amnesty is a terrible thing and it fulfills Obama's expectation and desire to make our country different and change what we're all about. And we don't want to do that. We have a country and everybody wants to come here because we're the freest and have the most opportunity. Why should we change that?"

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According to the report, Rubio ran as an anti-amnesty candidate when he challenged then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist for the open seat in the upper chamber. Candidate Rubio slammed Crist's advocacy of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as "basically code for amnesty."

The report also quotes Rubio as saying, "If you grant amnesty as the governor proposes that we do, in any form, whether it's the back of the line or so forth, you will destroy any chance we will ever have of having a legal immigration system that works here in America."

However, following Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 election, Rubio joined the so-called Gang of Eight to push an amnesty bill Eagle Forum termed "radically to the left of McCain-Kennedy."

The report states the bill "granted instant legalization, doubled annual foreign worker admissions (a much larger increase than McCain-Kennedy), issued 30 million green cards, provided mass amnesty, expedited citizenship for DREAMers without an age cap, removed the limits on family-based migration, etc., etc."

Accusing Rubio of eagerly aligning with liberal Democrats, the report charges that Rubio "traded shamelessly on the affection and trust conservatives had placed in him."

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The report does not limit itself to amnesty and the Gang of Eight bill.

Rubio also comes in for criticism for advocating tuition benefits for illegal immigrants through the so-called DREAM Act, undertaking efforts to increase H1-B visas that allow corporations to replace skilled Americans with cheaper foreign labor, and backing funding for Obama's efforts to settle more Muslim refugees in the United States.

Rubio is also on record as promising not to immediately repeal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, Barack Obama's executive order allowing several hundred thousand illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Furthermore, Rubio continues to say he supports immigration reform and will not deport illegal immigrants.

The Rubio campaign did not respond to a WND request for comment.

However, many conservatives are unaware of these promises because they were made in Spanish during an interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision.

When speaking in English, Rubio told Sean Hannity DACA "would be reversed" if he were president.

The report claims Rubio's campaign staff is made up of the same people who drafted and tried to pass the Gang of Eight bill and concludes Rubio is actually more dangerous than a Democrat president when it comes to passing "open borders legislation."

It states: "[T]here is likely no person in the United States of America in a better position to enact mass immigration legislation than a President Rubio – no one who could deliver more votes in both parties for open borders immigration."

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies supported the report's conclusions.

"'Lies' is a strong word, but it's the only word that fits," Krikorian wrote at National Review.

Specifically, Krikorian slammed Rubio for telling conservative thought leaders such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly that the Gang of Eight bill would not provide work permits and Social Security numbers to illegals until after enforcement targets were met. In fact, the bill granted these benefits to illegal immigrants up front.

Krikorian accused Rubio of deliberately trying to mislead his conservative supporters.

He wrote: "Disagreement over policy is one thing; Jeb's immigration views, for instance, are not shared by most of the people whose votes he's seeking, but he's honorably forthright about what he believes. Rubio, on the other hand, tried to trick his own partisans … and Rubio has never apologized for it."

Riding a wave of momentum after his third-place finish in Iowa, Rubio was running in second in most New Hampshire polls not long ago, with some arguing he was even poised to challenge Republican front-runner Donald Trump for the top spot in the critical Granite State primary.

However, after his showing in the weekend debate, Rubio is now facing heavy competition for his once widely expected second place finish. A new poll taken after the debate found Rubio had fallen behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the New Hampshire primary. Rubio is also tied with Jeb Bush and is only slightly ahead of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who won in Iowa last week.

According to entrance polls from the Iowa caucuses, Rubio decisively won among voters who thought he could "win in November."

Schlafly believes Rubio's robotic performance in the debate may have fatally damaged his alleged electability, the one asset he brought to the Republican field.

"I think he's been badly hurt by the debate," Schlafly said. "He really didn't know how to handle a question except to recite what was obviously a memorized piece, given to him by one of his handlers, I suppose. The follow up chatter has been indicating that there's real damage and I think that's probably right. I think he's pretty much taken himself out of the race."

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However, most polls still show Rubio in contention for second place. New Hampshire voters are also notorious for waiting until the last possible moment to decide and Rubio is reportedly still drawing large crowds.

Still, if Rubio does not finish in second place, candidates such as Jeb Bush and John Kasich will most likely stay in the race, making it far more difficult for Rubio to pave any realistic path to the Republican nomination.

Schlafly, who has tangled with what she calls the Republican "kingmakers" since her seminal 1964 book, "A Choice, Not An Echo," says not to count out the Republican establishment.

"Well of course their plan A was to give it to Jeb Bush, and that didn't work," said Schlafly. "Their plan B was Rubio, and I think that's falling apart. I'm sure they’re conniving right now to find out what their plan C is because they want anybody but Trump or Cruz."

Schlafly says Trump's slogan, Make America Great Again, "really resonates with the grassroots because we've really fallen in world appeal in the last few years."

Still, Rubio himself is still hoping for a strong finish in New Hampshire, vowing to repeat the now infamous line, "Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."

Rubio has accused the president of undertaking a "systematic effort to change America."

He even received support on Monday from talk-show titan Rush Limbaugh, who gave Rubio credit for saying Obama was deliberately trying to change the country.

However, Schlafly and Eagle Forum point out when it comes to immigration, the policies Rubio has supported in the past would actually assist Obama's efforts at "fundamental transformation."

As the report observes: "Unlike other legislation, the effects of bad immigration policy cannot be repealed. They are forever."

Rubio may say Obama is trying to "change America" into something unrecognizable, but the report suggests Rubio holds that same plan.

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