tags: Press Releases

Kyl's Border War With President Obama Highlights GOP Hypocrisy

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Pandering to Tea Party types, Kyl and the Republicans are the ones holding real solution hostage

Washington, DC – Speaking before a Tea Party audience in Arizona, Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) made the outrageous claim that President Obama does not “want to secure the borders unless and until it is combined with comprehensive immigration reform.”  The media covers the ensuing he-said, she-said food fight.  And the larger truth goes unaddressed. 

According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “Senator Kyl knows full well that the best way to stop illegal immigration – comprehensive immigration reform – is being held hostage by Senator Kyl.  The fact is that Senators Kyl and McCain, who just a few years ago championed comprehensive immigration, have it in their power to vote for comprehensive immigration reform this year.  But Senators Kyl and McCain are deliberately choosing politics over solutions for crass, short-term political gain.  They are more interested in pandering to the extreme right of their party, defending an odious and anti-Latino state law, and helping McCain fend off primary challenger J.D. Hayworth than solving one of the state’s biggest problems.  Bottom line, Senators Kyl and McCain are more interested in political security than border security”

Continued Sharry, “Border enforcement is a necessary but insufficient part of getting immigration reform right and developing a lasting immigration fix.  It does nothing to stop the jobs magnet that is luring unauthorized immigrants here in the first place.  It does nothing to bring 11 million unauthorized immigrants into the system legally.  And it does nothing to reform our legal immigration system so that it can respond flexibly to future labor market needs.  By insisting on “border first” proposals, Senators Kyl and McCain are blocking the very approach that will work to solve the problem of illegal immigration.  The people of Arizona should be asking their top federal representatives why they are blocking the federal solution that has the best chance of working.”

America’s Voice — Harnessing the power of American voices and American values to win common sense immigration reform.

http://www.americasvoiceonline.org 

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