Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions thinks the 1,200 page Senate immigration bill is a "legislative monstrosity" and says a vote for it will hurt America.
Sessions, ranking party member on the Senate Budget Committee, says "polls show again and again that the American people want security accomplished first, that they do not support a large increase in net immigration levels, and that they do not trust the government to deliver on enforcement."
Instead, Sessions said, "the GOP should insist on an approach to immigration that both restores constitutional order and serves the interests of the American worker and taxpayer."
"The same set of GOP strategists, lobbyists, and donors who have always favored a proposal like the 'Gang of Eight' immigration bill argue that the great lesson of the 2012 election is that the GOP needs to push for immediate amnesty and a drastic surge in low-skill immigration," said Sessions. "This is nonsense."
While GOP candidate Mitt Romney lost last fall's presidential election with little support from minorities, Sessions disagreed that voting down the immigration bill will hurt Republicans chances in upcoming elections.
Republicans will still win big elections if they appeal to "working Americans of all backgrounds," said Sessions, claiming that if the current immigration reform bill becomes law, "low-income Americans will be hardest hit."
In recent interviews, Sessions said he has been meeting with House Republicans to share his concerns about any immigration plan that increases the number of legal immigrants while not enforcing the law against illegal aliens, reports
The Montgomery Advertiser.
“I think they’re coming around to the understanding that our loyalty has to be to the working people here today,” Sessions said.
The senator was one of the leading opponents of the Senate "Gang of Eight" bill, which passed in June. The Republican-controlled House has not embraced the Senate bill and its pathway to citizenship for immigrants.
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