Rubio addresses the Hispanic Leadership Conference. (AP/Alan Diaz)Marco Rubio condemned unnamed members of his own party Friday for using “inexcusable” rhetoric about illegal immigrants.
“For those of us who come from the conservative movement, we must admit that there are those among us who have used rhetoric that is harsh and intolerable, inexcusable,” Rubio said at a conference for the conservative Hispanic Leadership Network. “We must admit, myself included, that sometimes we’ve been too slow in condemning that rhetoric.”
Rubio, a Republican senator to Florida who is often floated as a potential vice presidential nominee for the party in 2012, was interrupted by two protesters raising awareness about the Dream Act, which would provide legal status for illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children and attend college or serve in the military. “Why don’t you support undocumented immigrants? Please help us,” one young man yelled, as members of the crowd booed.
Rubio shouted from the podium that he wanted the two young men to be able to stay and hear him out, as security at the event quickly escorted them away.
“These young people are very brave to be here today,” he said. “They had the bravery and the courage to raise their voices.”
Rubio has said he will stay neutral during the primary, though he intervened on Mitt Romney’s behalf when Newt Gingrich ran radio ads calling Romney “anti-immigrant.” Rubio said the ads were inflammatory, and the Gingrich campaign quickly announced it would pull them.
Rubio didn’t specify which conservatives he thought were using harsh immigration rhetoric in his speech. In a Republican presidential debate in October in Las Vegas, Rick Perry and Romney used the word “illegals” 10 times to refer to illegal immigrants, which is considered