Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the following comment after the Majority party moved to table his amendment that would ensure that the border is secure before undocumented immigrants are legalized. The amendment would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to certify to Congress that the Secretary has maintained effective control over the entire Southern border for six months before processing applications for Registered Provisional Immigrant status. The motion to table the amendment passed by a vote of 57-43.
“The fact that the Majority voted to table my amendment proves that this is a far cry from the open and fair process the American people were promised. This type of obstruction is the wrong way to start the amendment process on such an important bill.
“It appears that the majority is afraid to have an open debate and vote on a provision that ensures true border security before legalization. They claim to be open to improving the bill, but this motion to table shows that they’re not ready to fundamentally change the bill.
“There’s a lesson to be learned from the 1986 legislation. At that time, we legalized first and thought we were going to secure the border later. We never did. My amendment would ensure we learned our lesson from the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, the Majority is obstructing an up or down vote on my common-sense amendment that would help keep us from repeating those past mistakes.
“We only do immigration reform once every 25 years. Surely, we need an amendment process in which true immigration reform can succeed.”