Keeping up his job as the right-flank of immigration reform, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) went after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s lukewarm response on Wednesday to his proposal to tie a path to citizenship to a border security “trigger.”
Rubio’s statement:
“If we are going to pass bipartisan immigration reform this year, the Administration must accept the principle that security triggers must be met before anyone who is currently undocumented is allowed to apply for a green card. This is a principle agreed to by the bipartisan group of senators I am working with and it is something that must be included in any legislative proposal if it is to be successful. Secretary Napolitano’s refusal to accept this bipartisan principle at today’s Senate hearing is discouraging for those of us who are serious about permanently fixing America’s immigration system. By continuing to oppose a key security principle with bipartisan backing, Secretary Napolitano and this Administration appear to be laying the groundwork to scuttle the bipartisan effort in the Senate.”
Napolitano told Senators that she thought new border security measures were less important than legalizing undocumented immigrants and cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers and expressed some concern a trigger could get in the way of implementing other reforms. She did not explicitly rule out the idea of a trigger or increased border security, however.
