Rubio may not introduce his immigration legislation after Obama announcement
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., may now refrain from introducing his much-anticipated version of the DREAM Act following Friday's administration announcement of a deportation deferral process for young, undocumented citizens in the U.S.
A Rubio spokesman told CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell, "Obama's move kicks the can down the road for two years." He added that both Rubio's version of the DREAM Act and the president's announcement today achieve similar policy goals.
Rubio said in a written statement released earlier Friday: "There is broad support for the idea that we should figure out a way to help kids who are undocumented through no fault of their own, but there is also broad consensus that it should be done in a way that does not encourage illegal immigration in the future. This is a difficult balance to strike, one that this new policy, imposed by executive order, will make harder to achieve in the long run."
Prior to the announcement of Mr. Obama's policy change, Rubio talked extensively with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell on his ideas to reform immigration.
"When you meet someone who came to this country when they were three years old- their parents brought them here, their visa expired, they're undocumented, but they're the valedictorian of their high school, they want to study molecular biology, and we're going to deport them," Rubio said in an interview to air on "CBS Sunday Morning" on June 17.
"To the vast majority of Americans that doesn't make sense."
Watch a preview clip of O'Donnell's interview with Rubio, which airs June 17 on "CBS Sunday Morning," in the video to the left.
