The House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner yesterday said to secure the borders first before looking at amnesty for illegal immigrants:
Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he supported a bill already passed by the House that focuses on tightening the nation’s borders but does not include a temporary worker program.
“You can’t begin to talk about a guest worker bill until you secure the borders,” he said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Otherwise, he said, “We’re going to have an endless parade of illegal immigrants here in our country.”
If senators pass a bill, lawmakers from both sides of Congress would have to work out their differences for a final bill. Boehner said that was possible.
Still, he said, allowing illegal immigrants to stay and work “sounds too much like amnesty for most Americans.”
The issue has divided conservatives, some of whom are anxious to court the Hispanic vote and support Bush. Others worry that allowing in undocumented immigrants, mostly from Mexico, could harm their election efforts.
“Everybody agrees there’s an enormous problem, everybody agrees with the border security lines and there’s general agreement that we have to craft a compromise,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, told “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace.
A recent Rasmussen Reporting poll said the 66% of Americans say to secure the borders first before passing any new legislation on immigration.
Jack Lewis today writes about very stringent regulations for immigrants.
