Access Washington: Ice Raids Continue, Reid Discusses Reform

Senator Majority Leader Discusses Immigration Reform at NALEO Conference

Last week in Washington, in a speech before the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., discussed immigration reform.

We have to do something to bring people out of the shadows, he said. We have ten to twelve million people here who have papers that arent in good shape. We have to put these people on a pathway to legalization; a pathway to citizenship.

Discussing prior failed efforts in Congress he noted, We tried in good faith to get it done, but conservative Republicans blocked us from doing anything. Remember we only got 12 votes for immigration reform from the 41 members of the Republican Party in the Senate. Unfortunately, despite President Bush and Senator McCains proclamations of support, neither one showed the leadership or expended the political capital necessary to actually get it done.

In discussing the Republican nominee for president he said, Senator McCain has gone so far as to announce in the Republican debates that he would vote against his own bill. His new position on immigration is so divisive and wrongheaded that it has won him the endorsement of Tom Tancredo.

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