Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has joined a few other Republicans in criticizing Sen. Marco Rubio's immigration reform proposals, writing that his effort is apparently aimed at creating "more Democratic voters."
"Some Republicans seem determined to create more Democratic voters. That will be the primary result of Sen. Marco Rubio's amnesty plan," Coulter
wrote in a Human Events column, referring to conservative arguments that Democrats are pushing a citizenship pathway for illegal immigrants to increase their voter base.
Her diatribe followed criticisms of Rubio's proposals from Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who called his efforts to forge a bipartisan overhaul bill that grants citizenship to illegal immigrants "naive." Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, without naming Rubio directly, also wrote this week that some in Congress are looking for "quick fixes" to the problem.
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In her column, Coulter noted that Rubio's proponents cry “It’s not amnesty!" that he's advocating.
"They seem to think they can bully Republicans the way the Democrats do, by controlling the language,” she wrote. “Rubio’s bill is nothing but amnesty. It isn’t even ‘amnesty thinly disguised as border enforcement.’ This is a wolf in wolf’s clothing.”
Coulter continued, “Despite all the blather about how Rubio demands ‘Enforcement First,' the very first thing his proposal does is make illegal aliens legal.”
Appearing on the Rush Limbaugh show Wednesday, Rubio defended his efforts with a group of four Democrats and four Republicans to work out a comprehensive overhaul plan. He said contrary to what the left has said, Republicans are not anti-immigration.
“We also recognize, because conservatism’s always been about common sense, that we do have an existing problem that needs to be dealt with in the best way possible,” he said.
The Florida Republican said his bipartisan effort is designed to avoid the problems that plagued the 1986 immigration bill that granted amnesty to three million illegal immigrants but failed to provide more border security and tougher enforcement mechanism.
“Well-intentioned, but counterproductive because, A, they granted a blanket amnesty to 3 million people at the time, and B, they didn’t do any of the enforcement mechanisms," he said of the 1986 law. "And so our point is, if we’re gonna deal with this, let’s deal with it once and for all and in a way that this never, ever happens again.”
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That includes beefed up border security, workplace enforcement, and a visa tracking system, he said.
But, Coulter wrote, “Step One of Marco Rubio’s plan is: Grant illegal aliens the right to live and work in America legally. (Rubio’s first move in poker: Fold)."