“I think Ted wanted to not talk about legalization during the primary and leave himself the option of being for it in a general election. I don’t think that’s fair to the electorate,” Rubio said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Cruz’s amendment would have stripped language from the 2013 Senate immigration reform bill giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship but still would have allowed them to apply for work permits and permanent residency after 10 years.

Rubio broadened his attack by accusing Cruz of flipping on giving President Obama expedited trade-negotiation authority.

“There are multiple issues on which he’s tried to do these sorts of things. For example, when the free trade agreement was up he wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, he wrote it with Paul Ryan. And just three days later he flipped on it. I don’t know why. He got some pressure on the fast-track authority.”