Democrats need to come 'halfway' on immigration, Rand Paul says

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said immigration reform legislation could quickly get through Congress, if Democrats are willing to meet Republicans “halfway” on key issues. Paul, who voted against the broad Senate bill last year, said that the House is unlikely to pass a measure that has a path to citizenship, which was included in the Senate measure. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has said that the House will take a more step-by-step approach to immigration policy. “Are you willing to try to bring the 11 million people who are here, bring them out of the shadows, give them an existence, try to be more humane, and try to get a better situation for them? That could happen tomorrow,” Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.” "The problem is, is the sticking point going to be we have to have immediate voting privileges for those who came here illegally,” Paul added. “If the Democrats are willing to come halfway, I think we can pass some meaningful reform.” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a key architect of the Senate bill, said on “This Week” that he believes immigration reform will get done this year, noting that key interests in the GOP back an overhaul and that top Republicans believe immigration is a political problem for them. Schumer also said that immigration reform would help the economy, and insisted that Boehner’s actions during last year’s budget debate was a good sign for immigration. “For the first time, Speaker Boehner said he is not going to let the minority of his caucus, Tea Party minority, run the show,” Schumer said. “They’re the people who have been opposed to immigration reform. Many of the mainstream conservatives, just like in the Senate, are for it.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...on-immigration

They also said they believed immigration reform was going to pass in 2013, we all know how that turned out.

Stop believing, and thinking, and guessing, and estimating, and hoping...just get it done, finished, finito

What's halfway? Only half of the people get status?

Rand Paul voted no, he has no say on the matter.

Nothing worse than an asshole against an issue saying that the proponents need to come to the middle (which in translation from bs to English: "proponents need to bend over for us").

I really hope that Rand Paul supports some kind of immigration bill. He will be a key member in the future

Does meeting halfway mean deportation? The problem with the immigration issue is that there is no true middle ground. You either give people legal status or you don't. The only middle ground would be some sort of DACA which is only a temporary solution.

The 'middle ground' that he wants is no citizenship. Give people permanent legal status that can't be automatically converted into citizenship in five years in the current system. I used to have some respect for him, until he said "...immediate voting privileges..." He's either completely ignorant about the topic, or being disingenuous. Even if all undocs get green cards tomorrow, it will be 5 years before they can file for citizenship then vote. The proposed wait time in the Senate bill before all undocs can even file for PR is at least 10 years. It will be at least 15 years before they all can vote.

While English is not my first language, I understand enough of it that a 15-year wait does not fit the description of 'immediate'.

So, his statement is just one more garbage to ignore.