Sen. Lindsey Graham says he is "98.6 percent sure" that he will seek the GOP presidential nomination and promises to approach illegal immigration in a different way from other GOP contenders,
USA Today reported Thursday.
The South Carolina Republican, a close political ally of Arizona Sen. John McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, is expected to formally announce his candidacy in the next few weeks.
Like McCain, Graham, 59, is a leading national security hawk and an ardent advocate of bipartisan "immigration reform."
In the interview with USA Today, Graham said that if he were elected to the Oval Office, he would not approve any immigration measure that did not include a way for illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
"If I were president of the United States, I would veto any bill that did not have a pathway to citizenship," Graham said, adding that his would be a "long, hard path."
Graham said it is essential to ensure that the path exists "because I don't like the idea of millions of people living in America for the rest of their lives being the hired help. That's not who we are."
He added that the Republican Party faces electoral disaster in 2016 if it takes a hard line on illegal immigration.
"We'll lose," said. "I mean, we've got a big hole we've dug with Hispanics. We've gone from 44 percent of the Hispanic vote [in the 2004 presidential election] to 27 percent [in 2012]. You'll never convince me ... it's not because of the immigration debate."
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton criticized GOP opposition to amnesty on Tuesday, declaring that if elected she would
expand President Obama's executive order permitting illegals who entered the U.S. as children to avoid deportation.
Clinton contrasted her own support for a path to citizenship for illegals with GOP opposition to the idea.
"Make no mistake: Not a single Republican candidate, announced or potential, is clearly and consistently supporting a path to citizenship — not one," she said.
With Graham's likely announcement, that is no longer true, USA Today's Susan Page wrote. Although Graham has opposed Obama's use of executive orders to protect illegals, the South Carolina senator's position on citizenship "puts him closer to Clinton than to any of his GOP rivals on immigration," Page added.
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