Rep. Lamar Smith: McCain's Immigration Plan Rewards Lawbreakers

Rep. Lamar Smith: McCain's Immigration Plan Rewards Lawbreakers

After Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and seven other senators presented their immigration proposals on Monday, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) declared it was not worthy of support because it was nothing less than “amnesty.”

Smith said the bill reward lawbreakers and would “increase unemployment and push enormous new costs on U.S. taxpayers.” 

These are the same arguments made against the Arizona Senator’s immigration reform push in 2007, and even McCain admits this new bill “is not that much different from what we tried to do [then].”

When McCain announced the bill, he was joined by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Michael Bennett (D-CO), and Dick Durbin (D-IL). 

NumbersUSA’s Rosemary Jenks has joined Rep Smith in lambasting this legislation, which she calls nothing more than “Amnesty 2.0,” a bill that consists of “meaningless enforcement measures, mass amnesty, and increased in… immigration, with tax payers left to foot the bill.”

On Tuesday, Obama said the McCain/Rubio legislation was a good start, but he wants to tweak it somewhat going forward. 

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