Rep. Steve King (R-IA) speculated Tuesday that given certain details related to the Boston marathon attacks, lawmakers should be more cautious in their effort to reform the nation’s immigration system.
“Some of the speculation that has come out is that yes, it was a foreign national and, speculating here, that it was potentially a person on a student visa,” King told the National Review Online. “If that’s the case, then we need to take a look at the big picture.”
The tea party congressman was referring to reports tied to the questioning of a 20 year old Saudi man on a student visa who was injured in the attack, but who has not been charged with any crime. Law enforcement officials searched an apartment complex in Revere, Mass. on Monday night, where the Saudi man reportedly lives.
“If we can’t background check people that are coming from Saudi Arabia, how do we think we are going to background check the 11 to 20 million people that are here from who knows where,” King added.
A bipartisan group of senators plan to introduce a major immigration bill Tuesday that would bolster border security, offer a path to citizenship to the nation’s undocumented immigrants and dramatically overhaul the legal immigration system.
