These are dramatic days, hours, minutes in Washington. Congress is working to approve a federal budget and avoid a government shutdown, and come up with a fix for the Dreamers crisis, and rescue the Children's Health Insurance program.
In many ways, it's a watershed moment for South Florida. You'd think Sen. Marco Rubio would be front and center--at least in the effort to find a clean solution for DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
But he's not.
Rubio once proved to be a leader in the push for immigration reform. Now, though not totally AWOL in this new and worthy effort, he's been real hard to find.
Dreamers said they'll take almost any deal, except one: They will not give up the opportunity to help their parents gain legal status, or at least avoid deportation. That's what Trump calls "chain immigration," where, once they have legal standing, immigrants can sponsor noncitizen relatives. It's a principled stand that should be factored into negotiations and the final bill.
Rubio might be skittish about being identified with an immigration issue again. The ground tends to be littered with landmines. In 2013, Rubio took the lead in forming the "Gang of Eight" lawmakers pushing for comprehensive immigration reform. It ended in disaster, but Rubio clearly understood the import of the issue.
Editorial on 01/20/2018