Gohmert Not Happy with Bipartisan Agreement on Border Security

WASHINGTON — A group of senators says it is getting close to a bipartisan agreement on border security that paves the way to citizenship to millions living in the country illegally. It would would grant legal status to immigrants living in the United States unlawfully. But Tyler congressman Louie Gohmert is not a fan of the proposal. Gohmert says the senate’s Gang-of-Eight immigration bill goes about immigration reform exactly backwards. “First they seek to legalize at least 11 million people illegally here now and then trust the Obama administration to secure the border later. We should have learned our lesson from the 1986 bill that provided legal status or amnesty, but the promised border security was never accomplished, which has led us to another amnesty or legal status bill today. We cannot let that happen again.”

According to Gohmert, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has stated time after time that America’s borders are more secure now than they’ve ever been. Our border governors say otherwise. It seems like the governors, who are on the front lines, would have a better idea of the security of our borders. When we actually take the steps required to secure the borders, we should have our border governors, not the Obama administration, certify that they are secure. I’m sure, after that’s accomplished, all of us could quickly come to an agreement about what to do with our broken immigration system and the millions who have come here illegally.

Gohmert says he has joined with Republicans. Steve King and Michele Bachmann in leading a group of Republican members to simply ask our leadership for some time this week to talk about immigration bills and our options. The leadership has never allowed us to talk exclusively about the immigration issue while we’re all in the same room. At this point, Republican leaders are only offering to let us have a meeting in July after all of the voting on the bills is done in our committees. This is unacceptable. My solution is to pass a resolution that says that as soon as this administration secures (but not closes) the border as verified by the four southern border state governors, then we will proceed on a bill that reforms our immigration system. Otherwise, granting another amnesty bill in return for a promise that someday the border will be secured would be disastrous.