EASLEY, S.C. | Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign rally in South Carolina was interrupted Sunday by immigrant-rights protesters who said he wants to deport their parents, underscoring the weight of the immigration issue as voters here prepare for Saturday’s primary.
“Marco Rubio wants to deport my parents,” one protester said, briefly knocking Mr. Rubio off his speech. As the crowd booed the woman, the GOP presidential hopeful quickly recovered — and joked that the protesters made a strategic mistake.
“Why don’t they just wait for the questions? They could have done it to a microphone,” the senator said.
Moments later he said he wants to unify the country and that includes the protesters.
“Even the people that try to disrupt my events? Guess what, I’m going to cut their taxes too,” he said.
Mr. Rubio has come under fire from both sides of the immigration issue. Fellow candidate Sen. Ted Cruz has accused Mr. Rubio of supporting “amnesty” for his leading role in writing the 2013 Senate immigration bill that would have granted citizenship rights to most illegal immigrants.
But Hispanic groups say Mr. Rubio has walked away from that, and now he opposes President Obama’s unilateral attempt to grant a deportation amnesty to more than 4 million illegal immigrant parents.
Mr. Rubio says he still supports eventual legal status for illegal immigrants, but says Mr. Obama’s executive action is illegal.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.