US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at a press conference in Kingston, Jamaica, on 26 March. Photo: AFP
Although Rubio has pushed their story as the epitome of the ‘American dream,’ the murky details around his parent’s immigration are still linked to his political image today.
Mario and Oriales Rubio: their immigrant story
Marco Rubio with his mum Oriales Rubio, who moved to Miami in 1956. Photo: @marcorubio/Instagram
While Rubio himself was born in Miami, Florida, his parents, Mario and Oriales, are Cuban immigrants who left their country for the “American dream” in 1956, according to his profile on the US Department of State’s website.
According to the Miami Herald, the pair set up their American home in Miami. They moved to Las Vegas for several years, but eventually returned to West Miami. “My dad was a bartender. My mum was a cashier, a maid and a stock clerk at K-Mart,” Rubio said at the 2012 Republican National Convention. “They never made it big. They were never rich. And yet they were successful. Because just a few decades removed from hopelessness, they made possible for us all the things that had been impossible for them.”
Parents and politics
Marco Rubio used his family’s immigration story as a central theme of his 2016 presidential bid. Photo: @marcorubio/X