Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Rep. David Brat (R-VA) are calling on their Republican colleagues to adopt an immigration reform agenda that caters to their constituents and brings current high levels of immigration under control.
In a letter hand delivered to all Republican lawmakers’ offices Tuesday, according to Politico, the pair call for an approach to immigration that more closely conforms with that of Republican voters.
“The enormity of what is happening is somehow being lost on our political leaders. But it is not lost on the American people,” they wrote.
“Immigration affects every aspect of out constituents’ lives. It affects their jobs, wages, schools, hospitals, neighborhood crime, social stability, and community living standards. It is also a national security issue,” the pair continued, highlighting that current immigration policies and lax enforcement “put the U.S. at grave and needless risk.”
Sessions and Brat dispatched the letter in advance of this week’s GOP retreat in Baltimore. The two immigration hawks argued that the time has come for Republican lawmakers to unite around an immigration reform agenda that begins with immigration reduction legislation.
“If we want to lay out a ‘bold, conservative agenda,’ and demonstrate that we serve the voters — and not the special interests — we should begin by advancing bills to reduce out-of-control immigration. That is the reform our voters want, and that is what we must deliver,” they wrote.
In calling for reductions, Sessions and Brat — pointed to the current skyrocketing immigration levels.
“In the fifty years since visa caps were lifted in 1965, the level of immigration in the country has quadrupled — from fewer than 10 million foreign-born residents in 1970 to more than 42 million today. Over the next five decades, Pew Research projects immigration will add another 103 million to the U.S. population — or the population equivalent of 25 cities of Los Angeles,” they wrote.
These high immigration levels come, they added, as a record number of Americans are not working — and the number of working-age men without a job has tripled since the late 1960s. Further median household incomes, they said, are $4,000 less than they were in the earlier 2000s.
Sessions and Brat stressed that their policy position is the one most favored by voters, including 92 percent of Republican voters who oppose “this immigration growth.”
“Voters’ requests are good and just and decent. For years, politicians have pledged to create a lawful system that serves the interests of Americans, but they have dishonored those promises. It is time to follow through on that pledge,” they concluded.