As a whole, Republicans are still on the fence regarding immigration reform, but they seem to be taking one large stance against adding gay couples to the debate, as Sen. Marco Rubio's comments Thursday helped demonstrate.
Sen. Rubio (R-Fla.), one of the lead members of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" panel in the U.S. Senate proposing an immigration reform compromise bill, said on the radio Thursday that he would withdraw his support of the bill granting millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to U.S. citizenship if legislators add in an amendment permitting gay immigrants to claim foreign same-sex partners as family.
"If this bill has something in it that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I'm done," Sen. Rubio said during an interview on the Andrea Tantaros Show. "I'm off it, and I've said that repeatedly. I don't think that's going to happen and it shouldn't happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is."
The stance is not a new one for Sen. Rubio, who has repeatedly stated in the previous months that he would not support amendments in the bill regarding same-sex couples.
Sen. Rubio reiterated his feelings after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) filed an amendment for the bill Tuesday that would allow gay couples to sponsor green cards for their foreign partners.
"Seeking equal protection under our laws for the LGBT community, is the right thing to do," Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. "I withheld my anti-discrimination amendment during the Senate Judiciary Committee markup. As the entire Senate turns to debate the immigration bill, the fight for equality must go on."
Sen. Leahy previously submitted the amendment for debate during the markup process in May, but withdrew it after Republican legislators argued that his amendment would effectively kill the bill. Their argument was that key legislators and groups opposed to same-sex couples being placed in the legislation would withdraw their support of the bill.
As it is, Republican support for the bill has been on shaky ground heading into what is sure to be a spirited debate this summer as the proposed legislations go before the Democrat-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
While Sen. Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a few other key members of the party have been pushing for the GOP to adopt immigration reform in order to help keep the party vital and thriving — especially in the face of the stinging defeat at the polls that the rising Latino voter electorate gave Republicans in November — others, such as U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) are opposed to passing a bill that some argue would be giving "amnesty" to undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
"We are looking at the legalization of over 30 million illegal aliens," Bachmann said at the Faith and Freedom Conference Friday, according to the Huffington Post. "This is not an anti-immigrant speech. Do not walk away with that thought at all."
However, Former Gov. Bush, a longtime supporter of the issue within his own party, countered that immigration reform was really "a conservative idea."