Senate Debate On Immigration Reform Bill Begins

Washington Post: Senate Opened Floor Debate On Immigration Reform. The Washington Post reported that the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill debate commenced on June 7. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is part of the bi-partisan “Gang of Eight” that crafted the debated legislation. [The Washington Post, 6/7/13]

Right-Wing Media Have Called For Rubio To Walk Away From Immigration Reform Efforts

Ingraham: Rubio Will “Rue The Day That He Became The Gang Of Eight's Poodle” Unless He Walks Away From Immigration Reform. During the May 15 edition of her radio show, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham suggested that Rubio should have abandoned immigration reform efforts and claimed that Rubio will “rue the day he became the Gang of Eight's poodle.” [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 5/15/13]

Bill Kristol: Rubio Should Walk Away From Immigration Reform. During the May 21 edition of Ingraham's radio show, Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill Kristol advised that Rubio “walk away” from immigration reform efforts, saying that he “made a good-faith effort” but helped craft a bad bill. [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 5/21/13]

Michelle Malkin: “Why Doesn't Rubio Form A Gang Of One And Dare Washington” To Pass Stricter Immigration Security. Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin's April 26 syndicated column asserted that Rubio should move away from the bipartisan Senate immigration reform bill and offer his own plan for border security only, and that Rubio was kidding himself about the Gang of Eight:

Here's a test: Why doesn't Rubio form a Gang of One and dare Washington to pass the entry-exit system his new pals all say they support as a stand-alone first. Let's see them prove they can keep even a single one of their national security/immigration enforcement promises before entertaining 900 more pages of them. Prove it.

[...]

Now the Gang of Eight Republicans want conservatives to jump in bed with these security saboteurs for another Amnesty Now, Enforcement Never plan? Who's Rubio kidding? Only himself. [MichelleMalkin.com, 4/26/13]

Breitbart.com: Rubio Should “Put The Security Of Our Nation First” And Vote No On Immigration Reform. Breitbart.com argued that Rubio should vote against the immigration reform bill and instead “put the security of our nation first”:

What will Senator Rubio do? Will he put the security of our nation first and oppose amnesty by voting no on the Gang of Eight's immigration bill or will he choose the path McCain took long ago--the path of going along to get along with the Republican establishment and the Washington elite? [Breitbart.com, 6/7/13]

Right-Wing Media Have Worked To Defeat Immigration Reform

Ingraham Spent Weeks Smearing Immigrants and Latinos In Campaign Against Immigration Reform. Ingraham's campaign against immigration reform has involved attacks against immigrants and Latinos. Ingraham has called children of undocumented immigrants “anchor fetuses,” claimed that immigration from Mexico would “turn America into a hellhole” and erode American culture, and that an immigration reform bill would “destroy American sovereignty.” She has also vowed to stop immigration reform efforts and to personally campaign against Republicans supporting the bill. [Media Matters, 6/7/13]

Kristol: Piecemeal House Immigration Bill Best Way To “Defeat Or At Least Delay” Immigration Reform. In a May 6 Weekly Standard blog post, Kristol argued that comprehensive immigration reform should not come from the Senate, but rather a piecemeal effort that addresses “border security, e-verify, [and] high skill immigration” should originate from the House of Representatives. Kristol wrote that such bills would be the best way to “defeat or at least delay the Senate bill.” [The Weekly Standard, The Blog, 5/6/13]

Malkin: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Is “Kabuki Promise” That Will Undermine U.S. Sovereignty. In a January 28 blog post reacting to an announcement by the Gang of Eight's immigration reform effort, Malkin ridiculed it, explaining that promises to secure the border between the U.S. and Mexico were “empty, bullcrap promise[s] that shamnesty peddlers have pitched since the Reagan years.” She called the proposal “another recipe for more illegal immigration, a bigger welfare state, and undermined sovereignty.” [MichelleMalkin.com, 1/28/13]

Breitbart.com And Other Right-Wing Media Hyped “Flawed” Study To Claim Immigration Reform Will Cost Trillions. Breitbart.com and other conservative media hyped a Heritage Foundation study that supposedly found that immigration reform would “generate a fiscal deficit” of $6.3 trillion. Conservatives and experts alike found the report to be problematic, with a Cato Institute blog post calling the methodology behind the report “flawed and error prone.” [Media Matters, 5/6/13]