Immigration
While we must secure the border first, we must also fix our broken immigration system.
Immigration Reform
While we must secure the border first, we must also fix our broken immigration system. We simply can’t ignore the millions of illegal aliens who are here in the United States, as well as the millions of others who want to come to the United States to perform seasonal labor and return home, or those who wish to remain in the United States permanently. We need a system that addresses all of those issues.
I do not believe that those 12 to 20 million immigrants who have come here illegally should be given any special privileges. They should not be allowed to get on a path to citizenship ahead of the thousands of people who have been trying to come here legally through the proper channels and have been waiting in line for months, if not years.
We also need a reliable identification system so we can easily identify who is here legally, whether they are here on a permanent or temporary basis. I believe we must hold employers responsible when they hire people who come here illegally, but we need to ensure we have a reliable identification system first.
Congress will continue to grapple with this complicated problem. I have listened to concerns of people in my district. I have discussed these issues with members of my Hispanic Advisory Council, many of whom agree we need to address the crisis on the Texas border.
You can be sure I will be studying all of the options very carefully as Congress and the Obama Administration weigh the legislative policies affecting border security and immigration.