Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

Our immigration system is broken. According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are approximately 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States. Allowing illegal immigrants to come into the United States and stay here without any consequences is unfair to law-abiding legal immigrants, undermines our national security, and encourages more illegal immigration. The first steps to fixing our immigration system must be to make certain our border is secure and ensure the laws passed by Congress are enforced.

We should absolutely not tolerate the President's refusal to enforce our immigration law. The Constitution is clear- Congress makes the law, and the President enforces the law. Our Republic is in grave danger if we allow the President to pick and choose which laws he will enforce, or outright change the laws he does not like.

Actions

Supports the use of the E-Verify system. Federal law mandates that employers must only hire individuals who are eligible to legally work in the United States. The E-Verify system "compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility."

Voted to support H.R. 5230, which addressed the unaccompanied minors crisis by prioritizing border security funding and emphasizing reuniting these children with their families in their home nations. The bill allows Customs and Border Patrol to conduct enforcement activities on federal lands and wildlife refuges near our southern border, which border control specialists have told Congress is one of the most important items necessary to curb the illegal border crossings. H.R. 5230 also allows for search and rescue operations on federal lands to fight illegal human trafficking and allows state governors to be reimbursed when using the National Guard to protect the border. And the money spent under this bill is paired with cuts in other government programs, including foreign aid. Thus, this legislation results in no additional spending.

Voted to support H.R. 5272, which would stop President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) scheme. This bill prohibits the federal government from expanding the DACA program, authorizing new deferred action plans, or newly authorizing any alien to work in the United States. It makes clear that the United States House of Representatives disapproves of the President's "pen and phone" unilateral immigration actions which, while not full-fledged amnesty, appear to many to be akin to amnesty.

Opposes the Senate's Gang of Eight proposal. The Senate's Gang of Eight released the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) on April 16, 2013. S. 744 passed the Senate by a vote of 68 - 32 on June 27, 2013. Included in the bill's 1198 pages are a roughly 13 year pathway to citizenship for most people living in the United States illegally, cuts to the number of available family visas, repeal of the diversity visa programs, new guest worker visas for lower-skilled temporary workers and agricultural workers, enhanced high-skilled temporary worker programs, increased funding to hire border patrol agents, and strengthening the southern border fence.

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