Conservatives Strongly Object To Immigration Legislation Passed by Senate Judiciary Committee

ALEXANDRIA, VA— The American Conservative Union, the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservative lobbying organization, today expressed its strong objection to the immigration reform legislation passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 27, 2006.

“The immigration bill produced yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee can in no way be viewed as positive reform. On the contrary, the bill essentially provides for a sweeping amnesty program for the 11 million-plus illegal aliens already in the United States,” said Bill Lauderback, ACU Executive Vice President. “It appears that the members of the Committee who voted for this misguided legislation are more in tune with the thousands of protestors waving Mexican flags in the streets of LA than they are with the overwhelming majority of Americans who are demanding that America’s borders and national security be protected.”

While the Senate Judiciary Committee bill provided funding for more border patrol agents, the legislation is woefully inadequate in terms of stopping the flood of illegal aliens across U.S. borders.

“The first priority of any immigration reform bill must be to secure our borders,” Lauderback continued. “By contrast, this bill undermines respect for the rule of law and encourages more illegals to storm our borders.”

ACU applauded Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Charles Grassley (R-IA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) John Cornyn (R-TX) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), all of whom refused to allow misplaced compassion to excuse criminality.

ACU stressed that the full Senate must work to correct the mistakes of the Judiciary Committee by amending the bill to provide for real border security, interior enforcement, and employer accountability.