Arizona Republican senator John McCain has defended the comprehensive immigration bill he helped to deliver through the Senate back in 2013. Speaking at his central campaign headquarters in Phoenix, McCain declared that he was proud of the bill that he worked with other Republican and Democratic senators to create and was disappointed that it was left untouched by the House of Representatives.
The comprehensive immigration reform bill was supported by the likes of Senators Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and passed the Senate on June 27th 2013. Despite massive success in the Senate, with 68 votes in favor versus just 32 against, the House of Representatives refused to pick up the immigration bill for debate, let alone for a vote.
“I know that many on the right were not persuaded because they didn’t act in the House of Representatives,” McCain acknowledges. “And my question to them is – and I think it’s legitimate, and they’ve never responded – give me your solution to the problem.” The Senate bill included the creation of an employment verification system for all working immigrants, an increase in the amount of immigration judges, and the construction of hundreds of miles of fencing along the southern border of the United States.
“I said we needed to build a fence, and I was one of those who shaped legislation that passed the United States Senate that calls for 20,000 additional Border Patrol [agents],” McCain points out.