Rubio challenged on immigration by voteless veteran
Jose Ruben Guerrero is a former US Marine, a self-described "conservative immigrant" who thinks White House hopeful Marco Rubio would earn his vote in November -- if he had a vote, that is. Guerrero is a legal resident of the United States who came to the country with his Mexican parents when he was a few months old, before they overstayed their visas. Despite being allowed to stay in the country, the 37-year-old military veteran from Lady's Island, South Carolina is not a citizen. He also has a checkered record that he said he is afraid to have brought up at a citizenship hearing. So when his favorite Republican presidential candidate hosted a town hall in nearby Beaufort, Guerrero stood up. "I'm also an immigrant. I'm a legal resident, I couldn't vote for you even though I want to," he told Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, in front of more than 600 people. "I'm scared to apply for citizenship because there are veterans being deported," he added. "What would you do to help someone like me?" Rubio has been at the center of America's immigration debate for three years, ever since he co-authored comprehensive immigration reform legislation that passed the Senate but died in the House of Representatives. Rubio has since hardened his position, saying it is imperative to tighten US border security and put other programs in place including an e-verify visa check system before the nation overhauls its immigration laws. A years-long pathway to citizenship -- something his Senate bill advocated -- is code for "amnesty," he now says. "I understand the contributions immigrants have made to America, including the armed services," Rubio told his questioner. "I understand the human side of this, it's difficult," he added. "But we're a sovereign country, and sovereign countries have to be able to control who comes here, when they come here and how they come here." - 'I made mistakes' - Rubio is seen by some as a compassionate conservative on the issue, far more so than frontrunner Donald Trump, who advocates sending millions of undocumented immigrants back to Mexico and often repeats the line that "we're going to build a wall" on the southern US border. After the town hall, Guerrero told AFP he could relate to Rubio's "immigrant past, his history, his ties to a multicultural community." "And as long as he's willing to protect our borders to keep us safe and my children and my grandchildren, he has my support." But he also said bluntly that he is "looking for help." "I made mistakes like anybody else," Guerrero said, without describing the details of his brushes with the law. "It's a shame I think that I have to be concerned that my mistakes might lead me to getting deported." Rubio declined to say how exactly he might be able help legal residents like Guerrero should the senator rise to the presidency, but he encouraged Guerrero to go through the process of obtaining citizenship. "Some of the most passionate Americans are Americans by choice," Rubio said. "People that know America is special because they know what life is like outside of America." Guerrero did not deploy overseas, but he served dutifully in the Marine Corps from 1997 to 2003. During the late 2009 US troop surge in Iraq, he signed up again, and now remains in the military reserves. "All I can do is offer myself to the nation," Guerrero said, after meeting Rubio briefly and taking a picture with him. "I did what was asked of me."
