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Rep. Bill Foster Statement On Bipartisan Immigration Reform Bill

April 18, 2013

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (IL-11) released the following statement on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, introduced this week by a bipartisan group of Senators:

“I am pleased to see the Senate introduce a comprehensive package that includes a plan to secure our borders, a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country, and a more secure and efficient system for legal immigration.

“I am especially pleased to see that this plan includes an expedited path to citizenship for DREAMers, because we shouldn’t be pushing away talented young students from the only home they have ever known, we should give them a chance to succeed.

“The path to passing comprehensive immigration reform isn’t simple, and the final plan will likely contain some painful compromises. But when we create a path to citizenship for our friends, our family and our neighbors – who are good, law abiding members of society who just want to build better lives for themselves and their families – we all benefit.

“This issue has been pushed aside for too long – it is past time for Congress to take action to pass common sense immigration reform that fixes our broken system. I thank Senator Durbin for his leadership on this issue, and I look forward to working with Congressman Gutierrez and my colleagues on the House side to produce similar legislation.”