Rand Paul - Ted Cruz in 2016

Rand Paul Unloads on Immigration Bill

Is it really too early to push for a 2016 Dream Ticket?

In an interview with Breitbart News, Constitutional Federalist Senator Rand Paul attacked the insane Gang of Eight Bill that was written in secret.

When asked if there is a concern that government bureaucrats may take advantage of nonspecific language in the complicated 1,200-page immigration bill, regardless of the intention of any given provision’s author, Paul said, “Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying for a few weeks now, that there are some similarities with Obamacare.”

“This Gang of Eight bill delegates a lot of authority to the administration," he explained. "So, with my amendment, ‘Trust But Verify,’ we tried to get that authority back and keep it in Congress, where Congress would vote on whether the border is secure.

“Ultimately, whether or not these people become citizens, under the Gang of Eight bill, is up to the president,” Paul continued. “I don’t care if it’s a Republican president or a Democratic president. That’s too much power for one person to have."

"So, I would have kept that power with Congress and said Congress has to vote whether the border is secure before we keep moving forward. I would make even the initial process of giving work people visas dependent on a secure border," he stated.

Paul told Breitbart News he supports immigration reform but cannot bring himself to vote for this bill because to him it does not mean real immigration reform.

“I think the turning point for me was when the Gang of Eight Republicans began to say that legalization of the undocumented workers here would not be dependent on border security,” Paul said. “That’s really the opposite of what I’ve been saying and the opposite of what conservatives have been saying. Really, immigration reform should absolutely be dependent upon border security and, really, border security first."

"When they started really admitting to that, that’s when I became disturbed," he said in reference to the reversal on making amnesty contingent upon securing the border. "Then, when my amendment which would have had border security first was voted down, and all the Gang of Eight voted against it including all the Republicans, I really knew that we didn’t have much chance of getting a bill that was going to be acceptable to conservatives.”

Paul said another “fundamental problem” with the Gang of Eight bill is that it will not actually end illegal immigration because the worker visa programs it contains are not enough to fix the problem. “In order to prevent illegal immigration you have to have a working work visa program,” Paul said. “This bill does the opposite. This bill actually sets limits for the first time on ag worker visas."

"So, it is said that three or four hundred thousand people come in to pick crops each year. This says you can only have 100,000 under the work visa program. That being true, what that means is, three or four hundred thousand will still come in to pick crops each year and they’ll be illegal, which means in another decade we’ll have 10 million more," he claimed. "I don’t think this bill actually fixes the main part of the problem we have and that’s not enough work visas."

Paul thinks the special interests behind the bill are what has driven it to this point in the legislative process, but said he thinks this bill does not have a chance of passing the House of Representatives.


For the full interview:  Breitbart News.