Republican Senate candidate Mike McFadden has urged Congress to finally get to grips with immigration reform, saying that he first wants them to secure the border and then get on with the business of addressing the millions of undocumented immigrants already illegally living in the United States.
McFadden also says that he is in favor of providing a pathway to US citizenship for these undocumented immigrants, as long as they have succeeded in meeting requirements such as paying back taxes or fines, having a job and having undergone a background check. “I think immigration is a classic example of how broken Washington is,” he notes. “We have to solve it. I don’t want to split apart families. When someone gets through those hurdles, then they have to stand in line … But I think they have to go through the hurdles first because they have broken the law.”
Last year a comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the Senate would have provided more money for securing the border, overhauling the US visas system and offering a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants under certain conditions. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans, declined to take up the bill and has done nothing of its own with regard to reform.
McFadden has declined to confirm whether he fully supports the immigration bill, despite challenging Democratic Senator Al Franken, who is very much in favor of it.