Texas Senator blasts colleagues for holding Immigration Reform hostage to Citizenship Path
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. In my opinion
the current bill does not fix the problem which Republicans & Democrats across the country want to fix: our broken immigration system" said
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz during the Senate Judiciary Committees mark-up. This bill may well
make the problem worse. It may well incentivize further illegal immigration which means further human tragedies further lives lost further families broken up further
women and children victimized by coyotes and sex traffickers.
That is not a humane outcome; That is not an outcome that I know anyone on this committee wants to see happen" Cruz noted saying the legislation also lacked elements to encourage high-skilled" immigrants which would be beneficial to the U.S. economy.
Secondly the senator from Arizona Republican Jeff Flake made a point about having an opportunity to become a citizen" continued Cruz. I think anyone can have an opportunity to become a citizen if they come here legally. One of
the ways to ensure that is by expanding and improving legal immigration creating legal avenues for those who want to seek the American dream to come here.
Im the son of an immigrant who came penniless at age 18 not speaking English and seeking the American dream. And that is our legacy as a country.
I would note that this committee voted down my amendment to increase high-skilled legal immigrants. And I think we should be more welcoming of legal immigrants to allow those who want to come here to work hard to create jobs to make our economy stronger to do so."
Cruz however he saved his harshest criticism for the bills proponents that were not willing to separate immigration reform from a path to citizenship. The legislation could lack support Cruz argued without doing so.
But those working on the legislation have seemed unwilling to recognize that.
But third my friend (Sen. Charles Schumer) from New York. in responding had a statement that I thought was very interesting and I wrote it down. He said If we dont have a path to citizenship there is no reform. And I dont disagree that it has been to date the position of the proponents of it bill. I dont agree with that position. And I would
suggest to the millions who want to see our immigration reform fixed that position should be very troubling.
Because what that position is saying is that if the votes are not present in Congress for a path to citizenship that the Senate is prepared to say We will do nothing to secure the borders. We will do nothing to improve high-skilled immigration. Well do nothing to increase legal immigration and we will do nothing to bring the 11 million who are living in the shadows out of the shadows."
Now I would suggest to all of those who passionately want to see this program fixed thats saying its all or nothing if theres no path to citizenship quote there is no reform ... Tying immigration reform hostage to a path to citizenship is not a strategy to pass a bill. Its a strategy to create partisan division. It is a strategy that may well result in more political battles. But its not a strategy to fix the problem.
So I would urge everyone in this committee to roll up our sleeves and fix the problem in a humane way that secures the border gets serious about fixing that problem that expands and improves illegal immigration and that does not unfairly treat illegal immigrants by removing a path to citizenship but allowing as this legislation does legal status for those who are here illegally.
That would be reform that a great many people across this country both Republican and Democrat would embrace" said Cruz.
