Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn used the op-ed pages on Monday to push an amendment to the Senate immigration reform bill that, he wrote, “guarantees the results that Washington has long promised but never delivered.”
Mr. Cornyn, Texas Republican, said his RESULTS amendment would “fix” the bill, which is up for debate, by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to establish a 90 percent apprehension rate of illegal border crosses and mandating the use of a biometric exit system at all airports and seaports to prevent visa overstays. It also requires nationwide use of E-Verify, an Internet-based system that compares workers’ employment eligibility forms to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
SEE RELATED: Sen. Harry Reid refuses to bend on core of ‘Gang of Eight’ immigration bill
“Washington has vowed to secure America’s borders for more than a quarter-century, but its repeated promises have not led to real results,” Mr. Cornyn wrote in USA Today.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, has ruled out any major changes to the immigration bill he will bring to the chamber floor this week, saying in an interview that aired Sunday that he will battle to prevent anyone from altering the core of the bipartisan deal reached by the so-called Gang of Eight.
But conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican and one of the eight senators who wrote the bill, have demanded stiff border security measures as a prerequisite for their legislative support.
