Rep. Trent Franks: GOP plans to bring immigration reform to House floor
Oct 25, 2013, 5:11 PM | Updated: 5:36 pm
PHOENIX — The Republican Party has plans to discuss comprehensive immigration reform on the floor of the U.S. House, an Arizona congressman said Friday.
Rep. Trent Franks said he has been meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and the two have been working on a plan to discuss immigration on a national level.
“We have meetings one to two times per week and I can tell you that there is a plan to bring immigration to the floor,” Franks said.
Franks told the news to a group of activists who planned to camp all night in front of his home to demand action on immigration.
Franks said, in his opinion, the immigration system is not working because its mired in the debate in Washington.
“It’s a lot harder then for people to come here legally,” he said.
Franks said the amnesty granted to millions of illegal immigrants in 1986 was the wrong way to go about handling illegal immigration.
“I want to do it right this time so that we don’t have to deal with this again in 25 or 30 years when it’s even harder to do this,” he said.
Franks said he hopes the new system is rooted in justice and allows the United States to enact laws that will no longer encourage survival of the fittest when it comes to immigrating to America.
“One of the biggest things wrong in the world today is that, somehow, those who are not strong or those who can’t defend themselves, the voiceless, are the ones that are crushed by the ones that don’t care or don’t notice,” he said.
Franks did not give a timetable for the topic to be raised in the House nor further details about the plan.
Boehner’s spokesman has said the Republicans do not plan to introduce a sweeping immigration bill, but instead will focus on making changes through several pieces of legislation, a plan most Democrats reject.
