Sen. Marco Rubio said Tuesday that the plans being offered on immigration are just starting points and not necessarily an indicator of what a final product will look like.
“I think everyone is just trying to offer a breakthrough here, and what our starting point should be,” the Florida Republican said on Fox News.
He was responding to the latest plan offered by Sens. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, which offered protection for DACA recipients, but no funding for a border wall. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — an Obama-era program that protects young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children from immigration — expires on March 5 and lawmakers are still trying to figure out what their continued protected status will look like.
“My argument is we need to have a plan B that does border security and something for the people that are under DACA now,” Mr. Rubio said.
He said he agrees that ideas need to be offered and debated, and said so far no one has dug in their heels on any particular proposal. He did say a simple version of an immigration bill should also be worked on so that if a comprehensive plan fails, there will still be protections for current DACA recipients.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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