Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is entering bipartisan talks with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on immigration reform, said that he intends to pass such an immigration reform bill during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
“It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot, just don’t reload the gun,” Graham said, referring to Republicans declining support among Hispanics. Graham said that Republicans erected a wall between their party and Hispanics during the last round of immigration reform talks during the Bush years.
“So I intend not to reload this gun when it comes to Hispanics. I intend to tear this wall down and pass an immigration reform bill that’s an American solution to an American problem. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves when it comes to losing Hispanics. And we can get them back with some effort on our part.”
On the bill itself, Graham said it should include border security, an employment verification system like E-Verify and a guest-worker program. As for the 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S., Graham said they should come out of the shadows, start paying taxes, pay a fine, learn English, and get in the back of the line to earn their green cards behind those who applied legally.
