CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript - Immigration Reform

Interview

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DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start there with the news right now and that is we're waiting. Probably in about an hour, we're going to see the key players in this immigration deal come to the Senate floor and describe it. And the it is a bunch of conservative senators, the key players are senators Jovan and Corker, who came up with a deal to beef up the border, they say, in a way that they put more border agents there, that they complete the fence along the southern border. And that is all an attempt to appeal to conservative senators to try to get ultimately the vote in the Senate to the high watermark, the highest watermark they can get, in order to pressure the House to take this up. So, that kind of sums up where we are right now.

As you mentioned, a key player in all this is Senator Marco Rubio from Florida. Key because he is somebody who people are looking at for 2016 as a potential presidential run, but also because he is a Hispanic Republican who is trying to kind of bridge both worlds of the conservative base who are not happy with this and trying to lure Hispanic voters back into the Republican fold. Listen to the conversation that we had in the hallway just moments ago.

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BASH: Senator, as you well know, there are a number of fellow conservatives out there who say that this is just a smoke screen and it doesn't change the fact that what they believe you have agreed to is amnesty for illegal immigrants.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, first of all, anyone who's in this country illegally is going to have to undergo a background check, they're going to have to pay a substantial fine for having violated our laws, and in return for that, the only thing they get different from what they have now is they're going to have to start paying taxes. And we'll know who they are. Right now, they're here already. We're not talking about new people. We're talking about people that are living here now, that have been here at least since December of 2011. And the only thing they're going to do now that they're not doing is they're going to be paying taxes and undergoing a background check and paying a fine.

But beyond that, we have very significant border measures that are now going to be amended on to the bill which basically says that no one can become a legal permanent resident of the United States until we add -- until we complete 700 miles of real border fencing, until we add -- double the size of the border patrol to 40,000 by adding 20,000 new agents, until e-verify is fully implemented, an entry-exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays is fully implemented, and until a very dramatic technology plan is fully implemented.

BASH: How many votes do you think that this ultimately is going to get you? Obviously, you probably know more than anybody. You've been working your fellow Republican colleagues.

RUBIO: Well, I think -- I don't know the exact number, but I think it will bring a substantial number of conservatives on board.

BASH: Enough to get through the House or even to get the House to take it up?

RUBIO: Listen, the House is in a whole other process and I'm not in the position to tell the House what to do. They're going to have their own product, they're going to have their own views and we're going to wait for them to do their part of it and we'll see where we go from there. Our job now is to get the strongest possible legislation and measures out of the Senate.

BASH: You understand the politics of this probably better than anybody within the Republican Party. For someone like you from a diverse state with likely higher ambition politically, this is important. For somebody who is in a conservative very red state voting for something like immigration reform hurts them rather than helps them. How do you -- how do you overcome that?

RUBIO: Well, I understand why conservatives are upset. They've seen all these promises in the past that haven't been delivered. That's why we're saying that nobody can become a legal permanent resident of the United States unless these border measures pass, all five of them. And that's why we have to do it that way because otherwise it won't happen. And that's been the evidence in the past. I understand why people are frustrated. I do. I -- we shouldn't do this for politics. I can tell you politically, this is as much a negative as it is a positive. People are really upset and I respect it and I understand it. By the other token, though, this is hurting America. This should be about helping the United States. And if nothing passes, then this disaster we have now, that's what's going to stay in place.

BASH: It's a negative as much as a positive, is it a risk for you politically?

RUBIO: Well, I don't know about for me, but certainly there are people that are upset. I mean, there are people that I agree with on every other issue who are mad at us for having gotten involved in this issue and primarily they're just distrustful that the government will do its part. And that's why we have to guarantee that it happens by saying that no one who has violated our immigration laws will become a legal permanent resident unless all of these things, the agents, the fence, the technology, the e-verify and the entry-exit tracking system. Unless all five happen, no one who's violated our immigration laws can become a legal permanent resident.

BASH: I know you have to get to a vote. One last question. In all candor, how much of your personal credibility and viability is on the line here? I mean, nobody talks about this without talking about Marco Rubio in the same breath politically.

RUBIO: Oh, I haven't -- I honestly have not analyzed it that way. If I --

BASH: Oh, come on.

RUBIO: No, because if I wanted to do something political, the easiest thing to do politically is just not deal with the issue, you know? Give a couple speeches and not play and get involved in trying to solve it. I'm dealing with this because this is hurting our country badly. I have studied this issue for two years, and I know we have to solve it. If we don't solve this issue, the illegal immigrants are still going to be here illegally, people will continue to come in, people will continue to overstay their visas, and our -- and our broken immigration system will still stay in place. That's why I'm doing it.

BASH: Thank you, sir. I know you have to go to a vote.

RUBIO: Thank you.

BASH: Appreciate it.

RUBIO: Thanks.

BASH: Bye-bye.

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