During President Obama's recent visit to Mexico on Thursday, the president stumped for immigration reform, stating that passing reform into law will help the economic relationship between the U.S and Mexico.
President Obama stopped in Mexico as part of a three-day tour to Mexico and Costa Rica in order to help strengthen the economic ties between the U.S. and those crucial South American trading partners.
While sitting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, President Obama spoke in support of immigration reform, a topic of heavy interest between both countries, as many cross from the Mexican border into the U.S. on a frequent basis.
As CBS News reports, President Obama said it was unwise "for us to get constantly bogged down on these border issues...instead of... making sure legal immigration and legal trade and commerce is facilitated."
And while legislators continue to debate the immigration proposal submitted by a bipartisan panel of U.S. senators, President Obama, as he has in the past, expressed optimism that immigration reform would pass this year.
"If we're going to get that done, now is the time to do it," he said.
Additionally, President Obama offered praise to President Pena Nieto for tackling criminal and drug activity, as well as reducing violence. President Obama pledged that the U.S. would cooperated strongly with Mexico to achieve that goal while adding that the U.S. would work to "meet our responsibilities to reduce the demand for illegal drugs and reduce the Southbound flow of guns and cash."
While President Obama took his message for immigration reform abroad, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., called for conservatives back in the U.S. to lead the way on passing immigration reform.
In an op-ed piece to the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Rubio told conservatives that while the bill that the bipartisan panel he was part of could be improved on, he warned the party against = simply squash the issue.
"The immigration-reform bill in the Senate is a solid starting point for solving this problem, and I believe it can be made even better as Congress begins to actively work on it in committee next week," Rubio wrote. "But defeating it without offering an alternative cannot be the conservative position on immigration reform. That would leave the issue entirely in the hands of President Obama and leave in place the disastrous status quo."
Sen. Rubio has a lot riding on the issue in terms of his career, as well, with rumors flying heavily that the Florida senator could be a potential presidential candidate for 2016.
While noting that fixing the nation's immigration laws was critical for U.S. security and good for job creation, he urged conservatives to come together to pass immigration reform. Sen. Rubio said that conservatism "has always been about reforming government and solving problems, and that's why the conservative movement should lead on immigration reform."
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