Sen. Cruz Statement on Gang of Eight Bill Vote

Statement

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued the following statement regarding today's vote on S.744, the Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill:

Unfortunately, all of the concerns that have been repeatedly raised about this bill remain: it repeats the mistakes of the 1986 immigration bill; it grants amnesty first; it won't secure the border; and it doesn't fix our broken legal immigration system.

This bill doesn't solve the problem because the process it went through was fatally flawed-- it was written behind closed doors with special interests; in the Judiciary Committee, the Gang of 8 and Democrats blocked all substantive amendments because of a previously cooked deal; and on the Senate floor, the majority blocked any attempts to fix the bill.

Further, in conjunction with Obamacare, the Gang of 8 bill creates a tax penalty on employers -- effectively, up to $5,000 -- for hiring U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. But that penalty does not apply to those with RPI status, giving a powerful incentive for job creators to hire illegal immigrants instead of U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. That is indefensible. I filed an amendment to fix this defect, but was blocked by Senate Democrats from receiving a vote on that solution.

Sadly, this bill won't fix the problem with our immigration system and will only encourage more illegal immigration and human suffering.

I strongly support commonsense immigration reform that secures the border before legalization, fixes our legal immigration system, and upholds the rule of law. This bill isn't it.

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