A new op-ed by Miguel “Mike” B. Fernandez, a Cuban immigrant and former major Republican donor, slams Marco Rubio and other Republican officials for being too weak to stand up to their own party and support a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants.
Fernandez calls out Rubio specifically as someone who intimately knows how America has helped Cubans, yet refuses to extend the same opportunities to other groups of immigrants. Arguing that Rubio and his colleagues are cowardly refusing to put what’s best for the economy over their own political agendas, Fernandez writes that they are “spitting on the migrant farmworker who is picking their tomatoes.”
Miami Herald: Op-ed: Republicans Are Squandering Billions By Not Giving Immigrants A Pathway To CitizenshipBy Miguel “Mike” B. Fernandez
Key points:
- A lot of doors were slammed in my face, but I kept knocking, just like millions of immigrants who come to this country. Since those beginnings, I started or was the majority shareholder of 25 healthcare companies. Until 2016 I contributed tens of millions to Republican candidates — but not a penny since then.
- Fifty leading economists told Congress that legalization and citizenship will grow our GDP by $1.5 trillion, raise the annual wages of all workers by $600 and create more than 400,000 new jobs over the next decade.
- Cuban Americans, who have built South Florida into an economic powerhouse, are not unique. If Congress gives them a pathway to citizenship, Mexicans will do the same. Venezuelans, Haitians and Hondurans will all do the same…My fellow Cuban Americans, Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, know this is true.
- Somewhere along the line, they stopped being “opportunity for all” Republicans and started being “scapegoat the immigrants” Republicans.
- It has been 35 years since Congress updated our immigration laws. Voters in both parties are tired of waiting and want solutions. Senate Democrats need to come out swinging and act courageously. Republicans need to stop being held hostage by a minority of their party. Right now, Republicans are spitting on the migrant farmworker who is picking their tomatoes. Maybe she can’t vote, but someday her kids will. They will remember who helped and who hurt their mom.
- Republicans are beginning to pay a price for not getting on board with immigration solutions. A recent poll found that almost half of Venezuelan Americans in Florida will not support Rubio and Scott if they don’t support permanent legal status for Venezuelan and other immigrants who are here with TPS.