Rubio Comments on Senate Border Bill

Statement

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) today issued the following statement after the Senate border bill failed to pass:

"Over the past 18 months, I have worked to fix America's broken immigration system. I remain convinced that it is in our vital national interest to permanently fix this issue. But my experience over the last year and a half has convinced me that the only way we will ever have the votes necessary to address every aspect of our immigration problems, including modernizing legal immigration and addressing the status of those currently here without legal status, is to first address border security and the enforcement of our laws.

"This is true now more than ever due to the ongoing crisis on our southern border with the arrival of tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors. Yesterday, I voted to debate this bill in the hopes that the Senate would pass a measure that would not just provide funding to respond to the current crisis, but would also deal with its root causes and prevent future mass migrations. I hoped we could pass a measure to bring to an end what the President of Honduras has called the "ambiguities' of our immigration policies that have led people in Central America to believe they could cross the border and be allowed to remain here. Unless we end the President's Deferred Action program for new applicants and reform the 2008 human trafficking law, tens of thousands of children and families will continue to be lured to cross the border with the false promise that they will be allowed to legally stay.

"Unfortunately, not only did the Democratic majority not support such a measure, they would not even allow a vote on it. Therefore, I do not support this bill as currently written. To pass a bill that simply throws money at this problem with a blank check, without accompanying reforms that will prevent this from continuing, would not only be counter-productive, it will be a grave disservice to our country."

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