Issue Position: Immigration

Issue Position

America's immigration system is broken. In order for us to have real immigration reform, our top priority needs to be to secure our nation's borders and start enforcing the immigration laws already enacted. To do so, we must give our federal immigration enforcement officials the resources they need to enforce the laws on the books. We must also allow local law enforcement to work together with our federal immigration officers in order to provide the interior enforcement needs of this nation.

I will oppose any legislation based on the philosophy of "legalization first, border security later." No effort to legalize unauthorized immigrants should proceed unless measures to secure the border and guarantee future enforcement, including E-Verify and interior enforcement, are implemented.

Beyond additional enforcement, reform must include modernizing our guest worker programs. Guest workers are vital to keep industries in America, and particularly in Idaho, competitive internationally. By providing a legal avenue for foreign workers to enter the United States, a guest worker program is critical to secure the border and eliminate illegal immigration.

The Senate comprehensive bill repeats the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty. Unlike the Senate bill, the House is working on step-by-step reform. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I have voted for (and the Committee has approved) four immigration bills--the SAFE Act, the AG Act, the Legal Workforce Act, and the SKILLS Visa Act.

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