Politics Daily Columnist Matt Lewis interviewed Marco Rubio and asked about yesterday’s news that a judge will block key aspects of the Arizona immigration bill from taking effect. Here’s his response:
Just to be clear, I opposed racial profiling, and to their credit, the Arizona Legislature changed that law. And because they did, obviously that law is more palatable — and legally more palatable. I think the decision today is important to understand, number one, why do we even have an Arizona law? And that’s because the federal government hasn’t done its job. … I think at the end of the day, the law is going to be upheld. Arizona has a 10th Amendment right to provide for the public safety of their residents, and to do so by enforcing existing federal immigration law.
It’s not much of an endorsement, but does represent a rightward shift from the statement Rubio released after SB 1070 was signed into law:
States certainly have the right to enact policies to protect their citizens, but Arizona’s policy shows the difficulty and limitations of states trying to act piecemeal to solve what is a serious federal problem.
Rick Scott and Bill McCollum were more explicit in their support for Arizona, and both say, in their own ways, that they will work to bring a version of the law to Florida.