Rep. Lamar Smith announces Border Security Caucus
By Ben Kamisar
dallasnews.com
10:42 am on February 28, 2014
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Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.
WASHINGTON—San Antonio Republican Rep. Lamar Smith is rallying support for a new congressional group that emphasizes tougher border security.
Smith, a hardliner on immigration, announced the Border Security Caucus on Friday morning, encouraging colleagues “who feel the border must be secured and interior enforcement increased” to join.
“The Government Accountability Office has determined that only 129 miles of a 2000 mile long southern border is under ‘full control,” he said in a statement announcing the caucus. “Unfortunately, President Obama has weakened immigration laws through executive orders and administrative actions.”
Smith has been a vocal opponent of the Democratic Party’s immigration policy changes. He’s accused Democrats of supporting legal status for undocumented people in order to cement an electoral majority. When Obama announced a new program that delayed deportations for undocumented children, Smith called the program “unconscionable.”
“There is little that’s clear about the president’s jobs agenda, but it’s crystal clear that he has placed opportunities for illegal immigrants to work in the U.S. at the top of his list,” he said at the time.
The Democratic-led Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill last June with support from 14 Republican senators. House Republicans have blocked the bill. Party leaders say they would rather pass reforms piecemeal, and released their own immigration principles. But top party officials received significant pushback from lawmakers who feared that offering undocumented immigrants a pathway to remain in the country is tantamount to “amnesty.”
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