News and views from the award-winning author of the novels The Skinny Years, America Libre, House Divided and Pancho Land

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Marco Rubio's glass immigration house


Although his luster as a VP candidate is fading fast, Marco Rubio is still a star among the Tea Party faithful. Because of that support, Rubio has backpedaled on his once-moderate immigration stance and adopted the Tea Party hard-line. But Marco's own immigration story shows that one who lives in an immigration glass house should be wary of throwing stones.

To begin with, Rubio's claim to being the son of Cuban exiles is a sham. His parents came to the U.S. in 1956 before Castro took power. They came seeking a better life, not to escape communist rule. Still, Rubio tries to pass himself off as a political exile rather than an economic one and does not support the DREAM Act or immigration reform.

That's especially ironic since Rubio's family has an illegal immigration skeleton in its closet Marco has tried hard to bury. This from the Washington Post:

"His grandfather Pedro Victor Garcia entered the country illegally in 1962 and remained in violation of a deportation order. Garcia, who left Cuba because of the Fidel Castro regime and personal reasons, later may have gained retroactive refu­gee status."

Like most politicians, Rubio is never one to be deterred by inconvenient facts. So we can expect him to echo the Tea Party position on immigration - even when it conflicts with his own personal history.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez