The Two Marco Rubios On Immigration

By Mario Solis-Marich

Latino voters now know that they have arrived. The nation’s largest minority block of voters is now seen as worthy of tokenism. Proof is in the person of Senator Marco Rubio.

Rubio has bragged about his meteoric rise from humble beginnings and how he represents the immigrant American dream. What he leaves out of his soaring speeches is how his family has benefited from the one of our country’s most generous immigration policies and how he gained from these special rights. As Cuban nationals his immigrant parents only needed to step on American soil to be legally accepted into the country. The cold war policy that has never been updated allows Cuban nationals unfettered access to the country based largely only on the fact that they have limited economic opportunities in their native land. Rubio, the son of a maid and a bartender, is a clear beneficiary of our country’s generosity and proof of the immense potential that comes with immigrant populations. Our open border policy with Cuba works for America and this special entitlement has paid off handsomely for Marco Rubio.

As Rubio brags about his meteoric success he works to make it more difficult for non-Cuban immigrants. Rubio makes no claim about the difference of the special privileges accorded his family and the burdens he places on today’s immigrants. As a beneficiary of one of our country’s most targeted welfare programs Rubio is allowed to have it both ways. Rubio can pose as a self made immigrant symbol as he touts his anti-non-Cuban immigrant credentials.

Rubio will soon scour the countryside employing this double standard to the benefit of the GOP. The difficulty will emerge as he leaves his parents adopted home state of Florida. Outside of the cocoon enjoyed by Rubio, that bridges the posh areas inside the beltway of Washington DC to little Havana in Florida, American Latinos understand the problem with double standards. Rubio is less a representative of a real immigrant experience than he is a walking, talking, breathing model of America’s immigration hypocrisy and he will be received as such.

Each word of praise that Rubio heaps upon himself as a representative of the American dream must be taken with a grain of salt. While Rubio deserves credit for taking advantage of the special rights accorded him because of his parent’s nationality he diminishes his moral authority when he refuses to address the uniqueness of the great gift that our country has given his family and the Cuban community. In fact Rubio denigrates our gift to him every time he sides with those who attack today’s struggling immigrant families that do not enjoy the bestowed privilege of being Cuban born or of Cuban heritage.

Rubio will soon find himself out in the real world, a world where touching terra firma is only the first step in taking part in the American dream. In his travels Rubio will find that his soaring rhetoric is but yet another luxury bestowed on him he has taken for granted.

Mario Solis-Marich is a writer and radio show host, for more check out his website or follow him on Facebook or Twitter at @MarioRadio