Marco Rubio, the GOP’s most prominent Latino officeholder, defended Mitt Romney’s approach to immigration as one of a “mature and serious political leader,” saying the principles he has outlined are in line with the majority of Americans.

The Florida senator, speaking with reporters at a breakfast gathering hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, also condemned the Obama administration for its week-old order halting deportation of young illegal immigrants, saying the president “injected election-year politics into an issue that privately I thought we were making progress on.”

Rubio, who had been working on developing his own version of the Dream Act in the Senate, questioned why the administration has never reached out to him.

“If you’re really serious about finding a solution to these problems, don’t you work with people who are interested in this? If you’re really interested in a bipartisan solution and if you read in the newspaper that there’s a Republican senator working on the idea, don’t you reach out to them and say, ‘Hey how does your idea work?’” he said. “It shows they’re not really serious about finding a bipartisan solution. They’re interested in a talking point.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about Rubio’s comment at his daily press briefing, said that Obama “has made it clear that he is very interested in a legislative solution to this issue,” and has “broadly reached out to members of Congress” in hoping to do so. He also criticized Romney for saying he would veto the Dream Act.

Read the full story at the LA Times