With Congressional lawmakers spending the August recess in their home districts, bipartisan support for immigration reform is continuing to grow, according to the White House. Immigration advocates have been meeting with their representatives and Senators in order to talk about the reasons that immigration reform legislation needs to be passed when Congress returns in September.
Jeff Denham of California is the most recent Republican representative to start showing support for immigration reform and has been joined by Representative Bill Foster and Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois to encourage the repair of the US’ broken immigration system. The White House insists that the great majority of Americans want immigration reform to be passed by Congress and have released a series of reports that show that passing the legislation would bring about a variety of economic benefits.
Lawmakers such as Senator John McCain are also trying to convince their constituents that their state economies would be positively impacted by immigration reform. Offering a path to US citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country would create jobs and thus result in a better economy. McCain wants House of Representatives lawmakers who are against immigration reform to understand the level of public support for it.
“We all respond to our constituents,” McCain told the Associated Press. “Over 70 percent of the people in Arizona support a path to citizenship if they pay back taxes, learn English, get in line behind everybody who has waited legally, and so we hope to convince them without being disrespectful to my House colleagues.”