Immigration not the winning issue media and establishment claimed

Washington Post:

Rubio’s past support for immigration reform haunts him on campaign trail

More than two years after the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” unveiled a comprehensive plan in the Senate, the Republican presidential candidate finds himself needing to justify his membership in the group to a skeptical conservative base.

There is distrust of Rubio on this issue and his confrontation with Ted Cruz has exposed him further on the point.  His explanation for the failure to achieve his objective sounds eerily familiar.  It is the same one used by the Bush administration when they failed to pass it.  People do not trust the government to enforce the law whether it is changed or not. There are other issues.  The "reform" had no real deterrent to stop future illegal immigration.  Their border protection promises ring hollow especially in the hands of a Democrat administration that tends to see illegals as future Democrat dependencies and voters.