Inhofe Praises Immigration Bill's Defeat

Press Release

INHOFE PRAISES IMMIGRATION BILL'S DEFEAT

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today lauded the defeat of the 2007 Immigration Reform bill (S.1348) after several cloture votes failed to pass the Senate.

"Though the Immigration Reform legislation was officially pulled from consideration in the Senate Thursday night, the bill was dead long before then. The chance to create meaningful immigration reform legislation was lost the moment the bill emerged from its closed-door meeting with an immediate path to amnesty for anywhere from 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants. As I've said before, it is an injustice to those immigrants who have gone about the citizenship process legally to grant these illegal immigrants a shortcut to citizenship.

"This legislation was substantively and procedurally flawed from the beginning. The bill did not undergo the normal legislative process, but instead we were expected to vote on a bill that members did not have a chance to review until two days before floor consideration. The Democratic leadership also refused to allow consideration of dozens of Republican amendments. Though my amendment to make English the national language was successful and passed the Senate by a wide bi-partisan majority, many amendments that could have positively impacted the overall bill were never allowed floor-time.

"The first step in any significant immigration legislation must be to secure our borders. The Senate bill focused far too much on controversial and irresponsible programs such as the ‘Z-visa,' and far too little on ensuring that our borders are no longer porous. It is time that we deal with real immigration reform beginning with border security.

"Thankfully, Americans of all stripes weighed in on this issue, influencing Congressional opinions and helping defeat this bill. It is clear that in the future we must deal with the issue of illegal immigration without a path to amnesty and by securing our borders."

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