Rand Paul lays out questions that should be answered prior to comprehensive immigration reform
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) urges Leader Reid to incorporate various national security concerns into the comprehensive immigration reform debate in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings.
Senator Rand Paul Photo/United States Senate
In the letter, Paul asks a series of national security questions that need to be answered prior to proceeding to the immigration bill.
“I believe that any real comprehensive immigration reform must implement strong national security protections. The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system. If we don’t use this debate as an opportunity to fix flaws in our current system, flaws made even more evident last week, then we will not be doing our jobs”, Paul said.
“We should not proceed until we understand the specific failures of our immigration system.”
Here are some of the questions that Sen. Paul believes needs to be addressed:
Why did the current system allow two individuals to immigrate to the United States from the Chechen Republic in Russia, an area known as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, who then committed acts of terrorism?
Were there any safeguards?
Could this have been prevented?
Does the immigration reform before us address this?
Media reports indicate that the deceased bombing suspect was interviewed by the FBI two years ago at the request of a foreign government. We need to know the details of this interview. We need to know if this interview might have given investigators any reason to conclude that this individual might be dangerous or at least worthy of further inquiry. If so, was there an intelligence failure?
Paul says, “There should be hearings in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that study the national security aspects of this situation, making sure that our current immigration system gives individuals from high-risk areas of the world heightened scrutiny.”
Do we need to take a hard look at student visas?
Should we suspend student visas, or at least those from high-risk areas, pending an investigation into the national security implications of this program?
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont say opponents that call to slow down immigration reform “cruel”.
“Late last week opponents of comprehensive immigration reform began to exploit the Boston Marathon bombing. I urge restraint in that regard”, Leahy said.
“Let no one be so cruel as to try to use the heinous acts of two young men last week to derail the dreams and futures of millions of hardworking people.”
