Rubio’s Push For Changes To Immigration Reform Bill Unsettles Bill’s Supporters; What Does Marco Rubio Want?

Marco Rubio, the Republican Senator from Florida who helped craft the immigration reform bill currently making its way through the Senate, has ruffled feathers among the bill's supporters for criticizing parts of the legislation. Though he has defended the central tenet of the reform - legal status and a path to citizenship for millions of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants - he has also said that the bill would not pass into law unless changes were made. The reform will go to the Senate floor for debate and a vote this month and afterward to the House of Representatives, where it will likely meet even stauncher opposition from the Republican majority.

During a town-hall style appearance on Fox News last week, according to Reuters, Rubio said he wanted to see the bill do more to boost security along the southern US border with Mexico. When asked about distrust among conservatives as to the intentions of the Obama administration on enforcing border security measures, he answered, "You've hit on the exact point."

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A few weeks ago, the senator's office put together a memo of 21 concerns with the bill which has made its rounds among Senate staffers. Figuring prominently among them are concerns about the enforcement of border security measures.

What does the memo say about the issue?

Perhaps the memo's chief worry is that the bill's provisions for cracking down on those trying to illegally enter and overstay their visas could go unfulfilled while immigrants already granted provisional legal status and placed on the path to citizenship could continue on that road uninhibited. In this, it would appear to reflect the Republican suspicion that President Obama and his Democratic cohorts are lax or uncommitted to the nation's security.

Among the recommendations are amendments that require that a specific amount of border fencing be built (700 miles of double-layered fencing); ensure that immigrants granted legal status do not get that status renewed at the six-year mark unless border fencing and security plans are carried out; make immigrants ineligible for legal status if their record shows a conviction of any kind; establish audits of welfare rolls in which if those granted legal status are found to receive public benefits, they would be subject to deportation; and take away power from the federal government to grant exemptions from deportation based on "extreme hardship".

Rubio's Tea Party appeal

Rubio remains a Tea Party favorite for the 2016 presidential race. The Tea Party Express, which calls itself the largest tea party political action committee in the nation, found in a survey of its supporters that 66 percent called Rubio a "strong" candidate - well over the 49.9 percent of Paul Ryan, who came in at second most popular in the survey.

Perhaps in contrast to the stances of anti-amnesty politicians like Texas Senator Ted Cruz or Iowa Representative Steve King, at least one recent poll shows that Tea Party voters are on board with immigration reform - though maybe not the bill as it currently stands. The survey commissioned by three conservative think tanks and performed by a Republican polling group showed that 54 percent strongly supported the Gang of Eight plan. 90 percent supported stronger border security.