McCain: I Don't Know How Many Passports You Can Forge Before Being Charged with a Crime in My Bill

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) did not know how many passports someone could forge under the Senate’s immigration bill he helped write before being charged with a crime. In fact, McCain did not even know there was a provision concerning forged passports in his bill. 

When asked how many passports someone could forge before being penalized under Senate’s proposed law, McCain told CNS News on Wednesday, “You’re going to have to ask our folks that, I don’t think that we stand for any forgeries.”

McCain was then asked, “Can you tell me why that would be part of the bill in the first place?”

He replied,  “I cannot tell you that it is part of the bill.”

As CNS News notes, Section 1541 of the Senate’s bill explains any person who “forges, counterfeits, alters, or falsely makes 3 or more passports” shall be fined or “imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.” 

Critics of the Senate’s immigration bill have argued that supporters of the bill voted for it even though they did not read or understand what was in the bill.