Marco Rubio To Be Protested Over Immigration Reform

The Huffington Post | By Ryan Buxton
Posted: 05/30/2013 5:31 pm EDT

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks with reporters outside the Senate floor in the Capitol on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

A group of protesters are planning to rally outside the office of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Friday to advocate against proposed changes to the bipartisan "gang of eight" immigration reform bill in the Senate.

The Tampa Dream Defenders are spearheading the protest, slated to take place at Rubio's Tampa office. The demonstration marks the culmination of the group's "week of action," which has included petitioning government officials to stop deportations and to issue driver licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Tampa Dream Defenders has publicized the protest through a Facebook page that also lists a phone number for Rubio's office, and suggests that anyone who can't attend the rally on Friday call to "show solidarity."

Rubio has publicly supported the core of the bill, which seeks legal status for the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. But Rubio recently told MSNBC that the bill would not pass without changes; and he circulated a memo among Senate staff that addressed 21 specific concerns in the legislation and how they could be fixed, Reuters reported.

That report included a quote from an anonymous conservative who attended a meeting in which Rubio was more blunt about his views on the immigration reform bill.

"The message was not, 'Listen, I've come up with a really good bill that we need to support it.' It was, 'This is a terribly flawed bill but it moves the ball forward and over the next weeks and months, it will move ever rightward,'" the source said.

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