WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue today made the following comments regarding the Durbin-Graham-Flake immigration proposal, which fails to adequately address border security, enforcement, chain migration and diversity visas, while expanding legal status to immigrants who knowingly violated immigration law.
“The Durbin-Graham-Flake proposal would do nothing to solve the underlying problem in our current immigration system. It does not take the needed steps to fix our porous border and it fails to empower law enforcement to apprehend and remove dangerous criminals who are here illegally. Furthermore, since it does not end chain migration, this proposal guarantees we will be right back here dealing with this same situation in the near future. As we’ve said all along, those brought here illegally through no fault of their own shouldn’t be punished, but this proposal also effectively legalizes those who knowingly broke our immigration laws.
“America is the most welcoming country in the world. But the American people have understandably lost trust in Washington after multiple attempts to fix our broken immigration system have failed to address its underlying problems.
“It’s inconceivable that anyone would shut down the government over this plan. It’s time to come back to the negotiating table and focus on getting a serious solution to the DACA situation that protects all Americans and our national security.”
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