Rubio Struggles Explaining Flip-Flop on DACA

BLITZER:  Thank you. I want to bring in Maria Celeste of Telemundo.
CELESTE: “Senator Rubio, last week you said that on your first day in office, you will get rid of President Obama’s executive action, known as deferred action for childhood arrivals, DACA for short. It’s a program that has protected hundreds of thousands of young people that came here when they were children, brought to the U.S. By undocumented immigrants. This is the only home they know. And that is a dramatic change from last April, when you said in Spanish, and I’m going to quote you — [ speaking Spanish ] Which translates to, DACA is going to have to end at some point, but it wouldn’t be fair to cancel it immediately. So Senator Rubio, what changed?”
RUBIO: “It didn’t change.”
CELESTE: “Why is it now fair to cancel it on day one?”
RUBIO: “No, it’s the same policy. It will have to end at some moment, and as I said, we will eliminate that executive order. The people that are on it now will not be allowed to renew it and new applicants will now be allowed to apply to it. And it’s not because we’re not compassionate to the plight of someone who came here when they were 2 years old. We understand. I know people who are personally impacted by that. The problem with the executive order is it is unconstitutional. The president doesn’t have the power to do that. And he himself admitted that.”
CELESTE: “Senator, senator —“
RUBIO: “I’m sorry, but —“
CELESTE: “But you went from saying that it was deeply disruptive to deport them immediately to deport them on day one.”
RUBIO: “No, this is not about deportation. Everybody always goes immediately to the issue of deportation. This is about DACA. DACA is an executive order that is unconstitutional. I will cancel it on my first day in office. Which means people who currently hold those perms will not be allowed to renew them when they expire and new people will not be able to apply them. I am sympathetic to the plight of people who came here when they were 2 or 3 years old through no fault of their own. No matter how sympathetic we may be to a cause, we can not violate the constitution of the United States the way this president now does on a regular basis.”
CELESTE: “Senator Rubio, you accused senator Cruz in a previous debate of lying when he said that you said one thing in Spanish and another one in English. So in what sense did he lie?”
RUBIO: “Because it is not true that I’m not going to get rid of DACA. I am going to get rid of DACA. In the Spanish interview, you just read out the transcript in Spanish, I said, it will have to end. That will be when I eliminate the executive order and the people who have those permits when they expire will not be able to renew it. And new people will not be allowed to apply. And that is how the program ends and how you wind it down. You allow the people who are on it, when the program expires, they cannot renew it, and it goes away. But I will cancel the executive order as soon as I take — as soon as I step foot into the oval office.”
TRUMP: “I have to say, he lied this time. He lied. 100%. 100%.”
RUBIO: “You lied about the Polish workers.”
TRUMP: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. 38 years ago.”
RUBIO: “Oh, he lied 38 years ago. I guess there’s a statute of limitation on lies.”