Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has dismissed Hillary Clinton as "a 20th century candidate" while denouncing her policies as the former secretary of state.
Rubio, a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2016, told
NPR’s "Morning Edition" on Tuesday that Clinton, the presumed Democratic front-runner, is "extremely vulnerable on her record."
He continued, "I just think she's a 20th century candidate. I think she does not offer an agenda for moving America forward in the 21st century, at least not up till now."
The Republican senator said that he will make up his mind whether to enter the race for the White House in early 2015.
Rubio fell out of favor with some conservatives when he co-sponsored a proposal that would allow a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
The measure was passed by the Democrat-controlled Senate, but stalled in the GOP-controlled House. Rubio said that the reforms did not contain strong enough border security laws to appease conservative Republicans.
In his interview with NPR, Rubio said that for immigration reforms to pass Congress in the next decade, they have to be pushed through piecemeal. "First, greater border security, then modernizing the legal immigration system," Rubio said.
He also called on other nations to help with the surge of children from who have crossed illegally into south Texas in the past few months while fleeing political and criminal violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
"We are deeply compassionate. This country's always had a place for people who seek asylum from conditions, whether they be political or otherwise. The problem is, it has to be through a process. This nation, no nation, is capable of sustaining or absorbing mass migrations."
The senator said that even if an immigration overhaul is passed before the next presidential election, it would not guarantee the GOP winning the majority of the Hispanic vote,
according to NPR.
"I never did it for politics," Rubio said of his immigration reform sponsorship last year. "I don't see a political upside, in the immediate term, for sure."
President Barack Obama received about 70 percent of the Latino vote in the 2012 election.
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