Senator Chuck Grassley tonight released the following statement after the president’s address to the nation.
"Congress has a duty to pass comprehensive immigration reform, but as we found out in 1986, amnesty is not the answer. When I voted for the 1986 immigration reform bill we had one to two million illegal immigrants. Today we have nearly 12 million illegal immigrants. Obviously, it didn't work then and I have a hard time believing that it will work now. We welcome millions of legal immigrants to America every year. To ensure we can help those who want to come to this country legally, we first must secure our border. President Bush laid out some compelling ideas tonight. One of the definitions of a sovereign nation is to control our border and we should give serious consideration to any steps that the president can take to get this problem under control."