House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said Sunday the key to successful immigration reform is enforcement of the law — a step President Barack Obama’s administration is missing.
“We have to address what we do with 11 million or more people who are not lawfully here, and I think we can do that in a bipartisan way, but we’ve got to get the enforcement part right,” Goodlatte said on ABC’s “This Week.” “And not just what the law says, but making sure that no one person, president of the United States, can flip a switch and not enforce the law, as many presidents have done before. That’s going to be a key, key question here.”
The Virginia Republican said politicians should take into account the history of immigration reform, with an emphasis on the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.
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“We have to learn the lessons of both 1986 and 2007,” Goodlatte said. “We had new enforcement laws that, by every president, not just by the current one, have been only honored in the breach. That is a key question that has to be addressed this time.”
On the topic of gun control, he said additional background checks will not stop violent criminals. He described such checks as “paper crimes” because those who fill them out frequently lie.
“Are you going to require law-abiding citizens to face greater burdens to no effect?" Goodlatte asked. “That, in my opinion, is the issue here. I’m all for the First Amendment conversation but not at the expense of the Second Amendment.”
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