The majority of the Hispanic/Latino population pie in the United States are those of Mexican descent. Mexican-American Chicanos, for the most part, heavily populate the southwestern part of our nation. Now that Florida's Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio is running for president, we believe it is time to remember the facts and bring up history in an effort to remind ourselves how weak his leadership skills really are.
Sin No. 1: Senator Marco Rubio supported Arizona's "papers please" law that would have directly affect brown-skinned Chicanos and Latinos here in Arizona with regard to SB 1070. He has not recanted his support for SB 1070.
Sin No.2: His support for immigration reform via the Gang of 8 changed when he reversed his position and backed out.
Sin No.3: Senator Marco Rubio did not take a firm stand against the RNC's anti-immigrant policy adopted in 2012 that was essentially written and blessed by Kris Kobach. If Rubio cannot express strong leadership skills within his own party as a Hispanic-American -- how can we trust he is able to run this Nation of ours?
Rubio's main Latino constituents in Florida are of Cuban descent, therefore we believe he doesn't understand, feel or hear the outcry experienced by Mexicans (living in the southwest) and other Latino groups who do not receive the privilege of automatic citizenship given to Puerto Ricans, or the immigration amnesty given to Cuban immigrants.
Currently, under the Cuban amnesty program, Cuban immigrants can receive at least one year of government entitlements once their foot touches American soil, without first contributing to our tax paying system. Republicans have long forgotten that the GOP has, indeed, supported immigration amnesty for years under the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA), while damning Mexicans and other Latino immigrants who do not receive Cuban amnesty.
According to a CNN Op-ed by Raul Reyes:
Back in 2013, Rubio was a member of the Senate "Gang of 8″ that crafted a bipartisan proposal for comprehensive reform, including a path to citizenship for the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
He later distanced himself from the bill after it ran into resistance from House Republicans, and now says he favors a piecemeal approach, starting with securing the border.
His retreat on immigration means that Rubio has missed an opportunity to set himself apart from most of the presumptive Republican presidential candidates. That's a shame, for this issue was supposed to be his calling card to Latino voters.
Instead, Rubio has embraced a typical conservative approach to immigration. He believes that President Obama's Deferred Action program, offering deportation relief to young immigrants, should be ended. He has stated that the President's executive action on immigration, on hold pending a circuit court review, sets a "horrifying precedent."
Meanwhile, both the Deferred Action program and President Obama's executive action on immigration are overwhelmingly favored by Hispanics. No wonder the research firm Latino Decisions reports that, "We find no evidence that Rubio's candidacy will draw significant Latino support for his candidacy or for his party more generally." So, if Rubio is counting on his ethnicity and personal history as the son of immigrants to win over fellow Hispanics, he is mistaken.
I agree with much of Reyes' CNN opinion above.
Within the last decade the Republican Party has transformed since 2000, when they fought to keep Elian Gonzales as Latinos galvanized themselves in Florida. On the other hand, we have witnessed the GOP using Marco Rubio as a Trojan Horse today -- as a tool to deport the Mexican equivalents of Elian Gonzales, and this will only serve to galvanize Latinos in the entire southwest against Republicans during the 2016 election cycle.