His staff said his words got twisted, and the transcript release was an effort to fight the impression Rubio was advocating for retreat. Spokesman Alex Conant insisted that the senator does not support a clean bill and that his comments didn’t imply that. “The answer is for the President and Senate Democrats to abandon the executive order and cooperate in passing a series of immigration bills,” Conant wrote in an e-mail.
Rubio’s own history underscores how tricky immigration is as a political issue. He backed a comprehensive reform bill that passed the Senate in 2013 that would have created a citizenship pathway for many undocumented immigrants. Under fire among conservatives, he moved away from support for a comprehensive measure in favor of a step-by-step approach while the original bill languished in the House.
But for a Republican presidential hopeful in Nevada, a key early nominating state, it wouldn’t have been so far-fetched to take a clean-DHS position. Nevada has the highest share of people who came to the U.S. illegally in its workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. Allies of theirs who can vote and donate—from entertainment magnates to the quarter of the state that the Census says is Hispanic—might not be too keen on a hard-line stance, and could reward moderation. (Rubio was also confronted during his visit by “pro-immigration activists” and undocumented immigrants, according to the Review-Journal.)
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