At Thursday's Republican debate, Fox News host Megyn Kelly showed several clips of Marco Rubio, before he was elected to the U.S. Senate, promising to oppose a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, calling that "amnesty." Then he co-sponsored a Senate bill that included a pathway to citizenship, so doesn't that make him untrustworthy on the issue? Kelly asked. Rubio said that nothing will happen on immigration until the U.S. borders are protected, and ISIS fighters won't be let in if he's president.
Immigration is seen to be Rubio's biggest weakness in the GOP primaries, but Kelly then asked Jeb Bush if Rubio's had flip-flopped on immigration, and Bush said yes, and that Rubio was right to support immigration reform. He did the right thing, Bush said, "and then he cut and run, because it wasn't popular." He pushed a book he had written on immigration reform, and Rubio pounced, saying "that is the book where you changed your position on immigration." Bush snuck in a retort, "so did you," then accused then-Sen. Barack Obama of sinking a 2007 immigration reform bill with a "poison pill." Watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The best shows to see at Edinburgh Fringe 2025The Week Recommends The world's biggest arts festival is back with an incredible line-up
-
Wonsan-Kalma: North Korea's new 'mammoth' beach resortUnder the Radar Pyongyang wants to boost tourism but there won't be many foreign visitors to Kim Jong Un's 'pet project'
-
The 5 best TV reboots of all timeThe Week Recommends Finding an entirely new cast to play beloved characters is harder than it looks
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officialsSpeed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firingsspeed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
New tariffs set on 14 trading partnersSpeed Read A new slate of tariffs will begin August 1 on imports from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more
-
Elon Musk launching 'America Party'Speed Read The tech mogul promised to form a new political party if Trump's megabill passed Congress
-
Judge blocks Trump's asylum ban at US borderSpeed Read The president violated federal law by shutting down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers, said the ruling
-
Thai court suspends prime minister over leaked callSpeed Read Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been suspended, pending an ethics investigation
-
Senate passes GOP megabill after Alaska side dealThe pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support was secured following negotiated side deals for her home state Alaska
-
Trump sues LA over immigration policiesSpeed Read He is suing over the city's sanctuary law, claiming it prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities
