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Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) blasted Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Tuesday, saying the Illinois senator was “absolutely AWOL on the issue of immigration.”
Speaking on behalf of the campaign of GOP standard-bearer Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the lawmaker argued that Obama was not only absent from meetings aimed at passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation last year, but that he worked actively against key parts of the bill.
“Sen. Obama joined up with one of the most anti-immigrant senators, Sen. [Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)], to try to kill the second leg of that stool, the temporary-worker program, [which] was an absolutely indispensable ingredient, and will be in the future, to immigration reform,” Diaz-Balart said.
At a speech before the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Tuesday, Obama said that he fought for immigration reform while McCain changed his stance on the issue.
“Now, I know Sen. McCain used to buck his party on immigration by fighting for comprehensive reform, and I admired him for it,” Obama said. “But when he was running for his party’s nomination, he abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.”
Kenna Ramirez, who attended Obama’s speech at the LULAC Conference, where McCain spoke earlier in the day, agreed with many of the opinions Obama voiced in his speech, but did not approve of his remarks about McCain.
“When he started attacking Sen. McCain on immigration, I did not like that,” Ramirez said. |
