During a town hall with CNN on Tuesday, House Speaker Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) laid out his immigration reform policy, which included giving visas “based on what the economy needs, so that we’re make sure people aren’t taking jobs that Americans can take,” and stated that “there are ways of helping people get right with the law that don’t involve violating the rule of law, or committing something like an amnesty.”
Ryan said, “Number one, you have to secure the border. … Then I believe you need to fix this broken immigration system. So, once you get this border secured, you’ve got to fix a broken legal immigration system, which isn’t working. It’s 20th century. We need to bring it to the 21st century. I think there are ways of helping people get right with the law that don’t involve violating the rule of law, or committing something like an amnesty. There are ways of getting people right with the law, so that they can earn their place, without rewarding people, or rewarding people for cutting in line.”
Ryan later added, “I don’t think rounding up 11 million people, a, is the right thing to do, b, would work, and I don’t think you’d like to see what we’d have to do to the country to do that.”
He continued, “I think you have to secure the border. I think you have to have reforms that get people to come out of the shadows and get right with the law, and get — and make sure that while you’re securing the border, you’re fixing what’s broken in the legal immigration system. I think we need to have an immigration system that is wired for what our economy needs. Many people describe our current legal system as chain migration. You can come based on your relations, outside of the nuclear family. I think we should give visas based on what the economy needs, so that we’re make sure people aren’t taking jobs that Americans can take, Americans can fill. We’ve got to get everybody out of welfare into work, and then after we do that, and make sure that every able-bodied person in America has a good job, we’re still going to need people in this country, because Baby Boomers are retiring. So, let’s find out where those gaps in our labor markets are, and have our immigration system wired for that. After we’ve secured the border, after we have replaced the rule of law, and then those people who need to get right with the law, give them a way to earn their way, through fines, through penalties, learn English, civics, reapply a policy of assimilation, so that they can get a work permit to work, but don’t give a person the ability to jump in front of the line of the person who has been patiently waiting and doing things right. That to me is more of an approach that works, it makes sense, and it will — it won’t require a roundup or a mass deportation, which I just don’t think is a good idea.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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