Marco Rubio: Immigration Reform Shouldn't Include Gay Couples

Sen. Marco Rubio has reiterated that he won't support an immigration reform bill that includes rights for same-sex couples, and he predicts such a provision will kill the bill.

"If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill," the Florida Republican told conservative radio host Andrea Tantaros on her show today. "I'm gone, I'm off it, and I've said that repeatedly. And I don't think that's going to happen, and it shouldn't happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is."

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont Tuesday introduced an amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that would allow citizens to sponsor foreign same-sex spouses for permanent residency in the U.S., just as citizens with opposite-sex foreign spouses can now. Leahy, a Democrat, had withdrawn the amendment last month "with a heavy heart," as he put it, but he decided to try again.

Rubio, a rising star in the Republican Party, also told Tantaros any immigration bill he would support must also provide for improved border security.

Listen to the interview here; Rubio comes on at about the 58-minute mark, and the remark about gay couples around the one-hour, five-minute mark.