(CNS News) — When asked whether illegal aliens should be given a pathway to citizenship, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said, “no,” and added that “people have to go through the regular, lawful process.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, CNS News asked the senator, “Should illegal aliens be given a pathway to citizenship?”
Senator Hoeven said, “If you’re talking about amnesty, no, that’s not something that they should be given. Again, people have to go through the regular, lawful process, right?”
In a follow-up question, CNS News asked, “And is the southwest border secure?”
Hoeven replied, “And we need to secure the southwest — we need to secure our border.”
He continued, “That’s just fundamentally important, and we really need to go back to the policies that we had in place under the prior administration that were working, and you’ve seen that with the incredible amount of migrants who are coming here illegally. We’ve got to get control of our border.”
Senate Democrats are pursuing a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 8 million illegal aliens, or “undocumented immigrants,” as part of a $3.5 trillion budget resolution aimed at achieving many items on President Joe Biden’s agenda. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said they will act on the resolution before the extended August recess.
As part of the broad economic package, the Senate Judiciary Committee was charged with crafting a $120-billion bill for “making improvements on U.S. ports of entry, clearing out a backlog of visa applications, or other changes,” a Senate Democratic aide working closely on the plan told Bloomberg News. There was no mention of any funds going towards border security.
“Of the 8 million immigrants that Democrats want to aid in the economic package, 3 million would be young, undocumented immigrants known as ‘Dreamers,’ migrant workers, and some with ‘temporary protected status’ because dangerous conditions present risks, if they return to their home countries, the aide said,” according to Bloomberg News. “The other 5 million would be ‘essential workers’ who have yet to be defined.”
This immigration piece apparently is becoming increasingly crucial for the Senate Democrats to secure, as several House Democrats have said they will not support the larger economic package unless it is included.