DREAM Act Portal Forum - Paul Ryan: Boston should spark immigration reform

Good to see that Paul Ryan's on our side.

Quote:

CHICAGO — Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan said the terrorist bombing in Boston should push Congress to pass immigration reform.

Speaking at a church here alongside Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Ryan initially said he’ll “stay off of Boston” as a subject. But the GOP lawmaker relented when pressed about its impact on the debate over immigration.

“We have a broken immigration system and, if anything, what we see in Boston is that we have to fix and modernize our immigration system for lots of reasons,” Ryan told a throng of reporters. “National security reasons, economic security reasons. For all those reasons we need to fix our broken immigration system.”

Ryan’s appearance here is part of a daylong swing through the Windy City to voice vocal support for comprehensive immigration reform. Ryan, the 2012 vice presidential candidate and House Budget Committee chairman has played a mostly behind-the-scenes role until now.
In addition to a morning event at the Erie Neighborhood House, Ryan and Gutierrez are speaking together at a City Club of Chicago lunch — all efforts to push an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. A group of House lawmakers has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to release a bipartisan plan to reform the immigration system. Gutierrez is part of that group, but Ryan is not.

Ryan came to the city club lunch here armed with five principles he is seeking as part of immigration reform: a pathway to legalization, an expedited pathway for children, securing borders, enforcement of laws and allowing legal immigration.

A bipartisan Gang of Eight in the Senate last week introduced its own plan, which would create a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country.
Ryan said “it’s high time we fix this broken system” for economic and national security reasons.
“We all must acknowledge that we have an immigration system that’s broken,” Ryan said in a short speech to the packed church. “It is not serving our interest as a nation. Our broken immigration system does not serve our national security interests. Our broken immigration system does not serve our economic security interests. Our broken immigration system does not serve our family interests. And so, when Republicans and Democrats look at this situation and see something that’s broken, we need to fix it.”