Denham: More Republicans will soon cosponsor immigration reform bill
Denham: More Republicans will soon cosponsor immigration reform bill
Oct 28, 2013
By Griselda Nevarez
http://ionevoxxi.files.wordpress.com...pg?w=640&h=450Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 23, 2013, before the House Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security hearing; “Addressing the Immigration Status of Illegal Immigrants Brought to the United States as Children”. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The only House Republican who has signed on as a cosponsor of the Democratic immigration reform bill predicts more GOP leaders will soon join him.
“While I’m the first Republican to support this legislation, I expect others to sign on in the next few days,” Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) said Monday evening in a call with reporters.
When asked what House Republicans he has been persuading to sign on, he responded, “I’ve been talking to a number of different members.” He indicated those members include the 28 Republicans who have already come out in support of immigration reform legislation with a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“I’m going to continue to encourage my colleagues as I have for many months now to support realistic reform,” he said.
Denham, whose district is 40 percent Latino, announced his decision to cosponsor the immigration reform bill, known as H.R. 15, on Sunday during an interview withUnivision’s Al Punto.
Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.), a lead sponsor of the bill, noted that at least 185 Democrats have signed on as cosponsors of the bill. Like Denham, he predicts more Republicans will soon sign on as well.
“I expect in the next few days, in working with Rep. Denham and other leaders both Democrat and Republican, to find a few more folks,” Garcia told reporters. “Slowly but surely we are headed in the right direction.”
House immigration reform bill is ‘a bipartisan measure’
Denham said he decided to cosponsor the House immigration reform bill because it is “a bipartisan measure” that represents the “framework of reform” that he envisions.
The House bill includes many of the same provisions as the Senate-approved bill, which many House Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), have rejected. One of those provisions is the 13-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, something that Denham insisted “must” be included in any immigration reform legislation.
The Republican congressman said the major difference between both immigration reform bills is the border security language. The House bill replaces the Senate bill’s border security provisions with those included in a bill that the House Homeland Security Committee approved in May with unanimous bipartisan support. That bill, crafted by Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), gives the Department of Homeland Security two years to come up with a plan to apprehend at last 90 percent of individuals who cross the border illegally.
“It is a bipartisan bill that really focuses on outcomes,” Denham said of the McCaul bill. “It sets benchmarks and metrics to measure success and failure, and it makes border security a requirement, not a goal.”
“In my mind, the major issue that many Republicans had a problem with is fixed” with the McCaul bill, he added.
The House immigration reform bill also includes Denham’s ENLIST Act, which would allow qualified undocumented immigrants to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and earn citizenship after serving for four years. If approved, this would be the fastest way undocumented immigrants can earn citizenship.
Garcia expressed his support for the ENLIST Act, saying, “People who are willing to die for this country should be able to cut to the front of the line any day of the week.”
Both Denham and Garcia said they hope to get the immigration reform bill passed in the House before the end of the year.
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