Later this week, the Senate will vote on a comprehensive immigration bill, and no D.C. lawmaker has been more in the center of the issue than Florida's own Marco Rubio. This has prompted members of Rubio's Tea Party base in the Tampa Bay area to warn him that he risks losing their support if he votes on the bill. The bill would allow a path to citizenship (after 13 years) for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
Dozens of Tea Party activists gathered at high noon at Rubio's district office in Tampa near USF today to ask Rubio not to support the bill. Their appearance came a couple of hours after a similar number of activists urged the GOP Senator to back the legislation.
"Nobody that I've talked with on either side of the immigration discussion is pleased with everything in this bill," admitted the Reverend Russell Meyer, executive director of the Florida Council of Churches, at the pro-immigration rally. "And that's the only way immigration seems to go forward, is to have something that brings all of the questions in a way that people can say 'I got enough of what I need so that you can have what you need.' And we need to move forward."
But Tampa 9.12 co-founder Sharon Calvert warned Rubio that "trust is earned, and when it's lost, it can be very hard to win back."
Last week, as the bill's chance of getting the 60 votes required to get through the Senate looked dicey, advocates for tighter border security got a huge boost in the form of an amendment proposed by GOP Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven from North Dakota.
That amendment —passed today in the Senate on a 69-29 vote— adds $30 billion to the costs of the legislation, which would pay for doubling the number of agents on the border to about 40,000 over the next 10 years and provide more high-tech surveillance equipment to stop illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. The amendment also calls for finishing construction of 700 miles of border fence.
Barbara Haselden with the Pinellas 9.12 Patriots trashed the amendment as being phony. She said her group will hold Rubio accountable if he votes for it, and it "fundamentally changes out country for the worst."
Supporters of the legislation said the provision makes the bill less attractive, but they will support it.
"A huge chunk of money has been promised to major corporations that are going to bank off of militarization of the border because of all of the state-of-the-art technology and just a lot of things that are going to make the entire southern border a very dangerous place to be," said Juan Sousa-Rodriguez with the Florida Immigration Coalition.
Although his group denounced the amendment, which Sousa-Rodriguez called a "dirty deal," he said they still support the bill.
As a member of the so-called "Gang of 8," and a man who is seriously considering running for the Republican nomination for president, many political analysts believe Rubio cannot turn back from supporting immigration reform. The Reverend Charles McKenzie gave Rubio some advice, nonetheless.
"Will he put the moral compass above partisan politics, above personal gain, and above the ideologues who represent the extremism in his party?" he asked.
While Tampa 9.12. leader Tim Curtis pretty much begged Rubio not to support the bill.
"We ask you to stop," he said solemnly. "This is flawed legislation. Stop, back away. It can be addressed. It needs to be addressed. This is not the way to do it. It's terribly disappointing that a person who we placed great trust, confidence and hope in, to follow and enforce existing laws in our constitution, would turn a blind eye to the constitution and a blind eye to us."
Curtis would not say what he'd do if Rubio votes for the bill. That vote could happen on Thursday.