Marco Rubio has it right on immigration.

Ted Cruz has it wrong.

Cruz is the freshman U.S. Republican senator from Texas whose parents are immigrants to this nation. Rubio is another freshman Republican, from Florida, whose parents also are immigrants.

Cruz says giving immigrants, even those who are illegally, a path to citizenship is wrong. Rubio says deporting the illegal immigrants is not possible, given that there’s about 11 million of them. So Rubio is willing to allow them a chance to become citizens.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/05/21/rubio-cruz-immigration-citizenship/2162423/

Rubio is taking the more compassionate course. Cruz is more hardnosed about it.

Frankly, Cruz ought to consult with two other Texans from his party about immigration. One of them served two terms as president of the United States, George W. Bush. The other one is the state’s longest-serving governor, Rick Perry. They, too, have a more compassionate view of immigration reform.

But Cruz instead is listening to the hardliners within his party who believe it’s all right to deport even those who were brought here illegally as children and who now call the United States “home.” Both Bush and Perry see this issue through Rubio’s prism.

Indeed, the Senate Judiciary Committee – over Sen. Cruz’s objection – has been sent the immigration reform bill to the full Senate where it stands a good chance of being enacted.

I’m hoping more compassionate thinkers will override Ted Cruz’s hard-headedness.