Sen. Kelly Ayotte endorsed the Senate Gang of Eight immigration reform bill Sunday, providing a major lift to the bipartisan effort.
“Our immigration system is completely broken,” the New Hampshire Republican said, and the immigration reform legislation is “a thoughtful, bipartisan solution to a tough problem.” Ayotte went on to praise the border security provisions, the E-Verify program that secures employment verification data and the system for high-skilled workers.The bill is particularly crucial, she said, to ensure that “we don’t have another wave of illegal immigration.”
Ayotte also hailed the bill’s mechanisms to bring the U.S.’s current undocumented immigrants “out of the shadows” and offer them a “tough but fair” way to earn citizenship. Making them pay taxes, pass a background check and learn English is the right way to handle a difficult problem, she said.
On the threat of a Senate filibuster, Ayotte said that immigration must be debated because “the status quo is unacceptable.”
Earlier on Fox News Sunday, though, Sen. Rand Paul critized the Gang of Eight bill. While he said that “we have a broken visa system,” the Senate bill doesn’t address it properly. Paul said that “you need to expand the numbers of workers that are allowed to come into this country,” but that the legislation in the Senate “puts new caps” on workers.
Paul also said plainly that the Senate bill “doesn’t secure the border.” The Kentucky Republican said that he was “willing to compromise” and “wants to make the bill work,” but that the bill’s authors must come to him directly to address some of his concerns.
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Ayotte backs Gang of Eight immigration bill
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