Nationally syndicated talk radio host Andrea Tantaros positively gushes all over Marco Rubio when he appeared on her program Thursday…and he still manages to destroy what little credibility he might still have.
Listen to this amazing interview.
In the space of about seven minutes he manages to insult the intelligence of the American people, spew out non sequiturs, and flat out lie about what is in, and what is not in, the Gang of Eight bill he continues to support.
In a single breath he claims he voted against an amendment to strengthen border security “because it doesn’t go far enough,” and then explains that by “not far enough,” he means that it would delay amnesty for illegal aliens for another four years.
Then he moves quickly from non sequitur into non-truth. The problem with delaying amnesty for four years is that we need to start the amnesty process as soon as possible “because we are going to require them to pay a fine. And that’s the money we are going to use to pay for the border security.” What he neglects to mention is that the fines are small to begin with – $2,000 – and that the bill gives the Department of Homeland Security discretion to waive the fines, and that they can be paid out over ten years, and that they are supposed to offset some of the costs of the amnesty itself. Not exactly the bonanza he claims it is.
Rubio then claims that the bill fixes the problems of lack of border security, lack of mandatory E-Verify, and the lack of an entry/exit tracking system. Yes, the same Marco Rubio who, on Thursday, voted to table Sen. Chuck Grassley’s amendment that would have required that the Department of Homeland Security actually have our borders under control for six months before the amnesty process could begin.
As for a universal E-Verify system – that would not be required for more than a decade, if the bill’s timetable is actually met.
As far as an entry/exit tracking system for foreign nationals, Rubio’s assertion is flat out misleading. True, we don’t have one, but not because it hasn’t already been legislated. We don’t have one because it is yet another example of a congressionally legislated enforcement promise that has not been kept. The Gang of Eight bill would actually weaken the existing requirement. Instead of collecting biometric data on everyone who departs the U.S., Rubio’s bill would require only the collection of fraud-prone biographical data and exempt the millions of people who depart the U.S. each year across land borders.
If playing fast and loose with the truth is not bad enough, Rubio then goes on to insult the intelligence of the American people. He complains that we have 11 million people in this nation who are “not paying any consequence for being here illegally.” So Rubio wants to “punish” them by giving them amnesty and access to jobs, services and benefits.
Rubio repeatedly stresses the pro-amnesty Republicans’ logically absurd talking point that by not passing an amnesty bill we are giving illegal aliens “de facto amnesty.”
Anyone who might still harbor illusions that the Gang of Eight bill is a good faith effort to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws needs to listen to Rubio dissemble his way through this interview.