Border Caucus Pushing Its Own Immigration Reform Plan
NOGALES, Ariz. — Members of the Congressional Border Caucus met Friday afternoon. They are publicly pushing for immigration reform without increasing border security provisions – but they’re also turning to their own immigration reform strategies.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said he wants to create a new immigration reform plan as talks stall in the House of Representatives and expectations drop that any plan will be voted on this year.
He was vague on what his bill would contain, but it will be modeled after one introduced by Democratic Congressman Solomon Ortiz’s 2009 reform plan.
That year, Solomon helped introduce the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009.
Grijalva said he doesn’t think immigration reform has collapsed completely for this year.
“I think there’s still a lot of pressure that is going to be brought to bear, I think the urgency is going to rise, the public pressure. The 115 arrests in [Washington] D.C. the other day, I think that’s going to continue to mount,” he said.
Those arrests happened as protesters tried to reignite an immigration debate sidelined by the circumstances in Syria.
Meanwhile, the border caucus has been meeting with local leaders, trying to build a consensus against any new kind of border enforcement buildup.
Among the testimonies the caucus has been listening to American Civil Liberties Union lawyers alleging abuses by federal border agents and complaints of unnecessary delays lines at the shipping ports of entry by cross-border trade lobbyists.
