Rubio: Cruz ‘bragged’ about his work permits for illegals

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Friday he is “puzzled” by barbs from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over illegal immigration in their race for the GOP presidential nomination

“I’m puzzled and quite frankly surprised by Ted’s attacks, since Ted’s position on immigration is not much different than mine,” he told reporters during a press conference after the Sunshine Summit in Orlando.

{mosads}“Senator Cruz clearly supported an amendment, and he bragged about how this amendment would bring people out of the shadows and how it would legalize people that are in this country illegally,” Rubio continued, referencing 2013 negotiations over comprehensive immigration reform legislation.

“He made clear that he believed, that, in fact, that amendment should have been adopted,” he added of Cruz’s proposed changes to a bill written by the Gang of Eight.

“He, in fact, bragged about the fact that he did not undermine the pathway for legalization for people that were in this country illegally.”

Rubio then proposed that Cruz has actually supported more sweeping solutions for illegal immigration than he has.

“On other issues regarding immigration, he’s gone much further than I have,” he said.

“He wanted to double the number of green cards [and] he wanted a 500 percent increase in the number of H-1B visas,” Rubio added. “If he’s changed his position, he certainly has a right to change his position on this issue, but he should be clear about that.”

Rubio argued that he remains the only Republican White House hopeful with a coherent strategy for solving the illegal immigration crisis.

“Everybody running for president on the Republican side, in one way or shape, supports some form or fashion the legalization of people that are in this country illegally,” he said.

“It begins with border security and ensuring illegal immigration is under control,” Rubio said of his strategy. “The second step would be to modernize our legal immigration system.

“At this point, what I’m arguing is this is the only way forward,” he added. “This is the only way we’re going to be able to deal with this issue is if we do it in the way I’ve outlined.”

Rubio and Cruz began openly battling over immigration Thursday afternoon after months of simmering tensions.

Cruz directly confronted Rubio over his part in the Gang of Eight talks, arguing he opposed “every single amendment” bolstering border security in 2013.

“The Gang of Eight, all eight of them, agreed to vote against every amendment that would strengthen the bill from an enforcement perspective,” he said. “The Gang of Eight voted as a gang against enforcing and securing the border.”

Cruz then argued that should the GOP nominate a candidate who supported the bill, the party would forfeit “one of the major distinctions with [Democratic presidential front-runner] Hillary Clinton,” effectively costing them the 2016 election.

Rubio countered that he is not interested in straddling “the middle line” on the issue.

“It’s not about a middle line, it’s about reality,” he said. “People will have to be deported, there’s no doubt about it. But we also have to deal realistically with the fact that we have 12 or 13 million people or whatever it is.”

Both men are locked in a fierce struggle for third and fourth place in the GOP’s presidential primary across multiple national polls. Rubio leads Cruz by just over 2 points, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of samplings.