Rubio criticizes Arizona immigration law

Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio criticized Arizona's tough new immigration law today, putting him at odds with the national conservative establishment that has aided his meteoric rise.

Rubio said the law could effectively "single out people who are here legally, including U.S. citizens."

The key paragraph from his statement:

States certainly have the right to enact policies to protect their citizens, but Arizona’s policy shows the difficulty and limitations of states trying to act piecemeal to solve what is a serious federal problem.  From what I have read in news reports, I do have concerns about this legislation.  While I don’t believe Arizona’s policy was based on anything other than trying to get a handle on our broken borders, I think aspects of the law, especially that dealing with ‘reasonable suspicion,’ are going to put our law enforcement officers in an incredibly difficult position.  It could also unreasonably single out people who are here legally, including many American citizens.  Throughout American history and throughout this administration we have seen that when government is given an inch it takes a mile. 

While many prominent conservatives have praised the law, Florida is home to a large Hispanic population, including a large immigration population, that often votes Republican due to concerns about Cuba.