Your original immigration proposal back in 2006 was much broader and included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were already here. At this point, if your original proposal came to a vote on the Senate floor, would you vote for it?
COOPER: Janet Hook with the L.A. Times with a follow-up question. (APPLAUSE)
HOOK: Senator McCain, let me just take the issue to you, because you obviously have been very involved in it. During this campaign, you, like your rivals, have been putting the first priority, heaviest emphasis on border security. But your original immigration proposal back in 2006 was much broader and included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were already here.
What I'm wondering is -- and you seem to be downplaying that part. At this point, if your original proposal came to a vote on the Senate floor, would you vote for it?
MCCAIN: It won't. It won't. That's why we went through the debate...
HOOK: But if it did?
MCCAIN: No, it would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the border secured first. And so to say that that would come to the floor of the Senate -- it won't. We went through various amendments which prevented that ever -- that proposal.
But, look, we're all in agreement as to what we need to do. Everybody knows it. We can fight some more about it, about who wanted this or who wanted that. But the fact is, we all know the American people want the border secured first.
MCCAIN: We will secure the borders first when I am president of the United States. I know how to do that. I come from a border state, where we know about building walls, and vehicle barriers, and sensors, and all of the things necessary.
I will have the border state governors certify the borders are secured. And then we will move onto the other aspects of this issue, probably as importantly as tamper-proof biometric documents, which then, unless an employer hires someone with those documents, that employer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And that will cause a lot of people to leave voluntarily.
There's 2 million people who are here who have committed crimes. They have to be rounded up and deported.
And we're all basically in agreement there are humanitarian situations. It varies with how long they've been here, et cetera, et cetera.
We are all committed to carrying out the mandate of the American people, which is a national security issue, which is securing the borders. That was part of the original proposal, but the American people didn't trust or have confidence in us that we would do it.
So we now know we have to secure the borders first, and that is what needs to be done. That's what I'll do as president of the United States.
COOPER: So I just want to confirm that you would not vote for your bill as it originally was?
MCCAIN: My bill will not be voted on; it will not be voted on. I will sit and work with Democrats and Republicans and with all people. And we will have the principals securing the borders first.
And then, if you want me to go through the description all over again, I would be glad to. We will secure the borders first. That's the responsibility and the priority of the American people.
3 comments
#1 discoarse May 22, 2008
Who are the "american people" that McCain claims to represent in this video? While he claims to have a universally-supportive population for his anti-immigration stance, it seems like many people who have strong roots in this country will be further marginalized by the position that he is articulating here.
McCain tries to push his position as having near-universal support, but in the end his repeated claim that he is backed by "the American people" as a whole just seems to be an often-resorted-to mechanism to cover elitism and continued unjust treatment of certain populations by claiming that a certain homogeneous group can possibly be considered as "the American people."
#2 Dan Phiffer May 27, 2008
Yeah, the polling data certainly don't indicate anything close to a consensus on immigration. He definitely dodged the real question which is: "aren't you compromising your actual position, which isn't supported by the Republican base?"
#3 Economist 85 Jul 21, 2008 (edited by poster)
Interesting how the issue of border secuirty finds itself as one of national security. As the input prices continue to rise along with the price at the pump expect lower wages and less jobs. however with the border secure and illegal immigration in check the surplus of labor will lesson and serve as catalyst for wages to increase for the select few that can find work. The Fact that low wages enatails relatively low prices is a tough pill to swallow. So if we postulate on my logic eliminate the labor surplus job losses intensify furthur.