Senator Rubio says immigration reform bill may not be tough enough

May 02, 2013

Florida Senator Marco Rubio says a new immigration reform bill he helped write needs stronger border security provisions or it will fail in the House and may even have trouble getting through the Senate.

Rubio said he's been hearing concerns in recent days that more work is needed to boost the bill's language on border security, and he said he's committed to trying to make those changes. He says some Republicans have told him that new citizenship provisions contingent on border security accomplishments are too weak. Rubio is a member of the so-called Gang of Eight senators--including Arizonans John McCain and Jeff Flake — who introduced the legislation on April 17. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to begin voting on it next week. The sponsors say the bill will improve border security, create new Visa programs to bring more foreign workers into the United States, require employers to check their workers' legal status, and create a new pathway to citizenship for the estimated eleven million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. Steve Goldstein, KJZZ News.