Politics

Rubio spokesman says bombings shouldn’t be used to ‘make political points’

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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WASHINGTON – Could the fact that the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings legally immigrated to America affect the immigration overhaul legislation being debated in Congress?

A spokesman for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio – one of the chief proponents of the Gang of 8’s immigration proposal – cautioned against connecting the two.

“The situation in Boston is still developing and it’s too soon to jump to conclusions, let alone use the tragedy to make political points,” Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said in an email when reached Friday by The Daily Caller.

Authorities suspect that two brothers from Russia — 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev and 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — bombed the marathon on Monday. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot dead by police overnight, while the duo tried escaping police.

Still, Rubio’s spokesman told TheDC on Friday afternoon that, “There are legitimate policy questions to ask and answer about what role our immigration system played, if any, in what happened.”

“Regardless of the circumstances in Boston, immigration reform that strengthens our borders and gives us a better accounting of who is in our country and why will improve our national security,” Conant said. “Americans will reject any attempt to tie the losers responsible for the attacks in Boston with the millions of law-abiding immigrants currently living in the US and those hoping to immigrate here in the future.”

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