Senator Lamar Alexander said this week that he supports giving Dreamers legal status and a chance to become citizens. He also stressed the importance of border security.
During WREG’s Live at 9 show, broadcast from Memphis on Wednesday, he was asked about what is going to happen to the Dreamers, those young people who were brought undocumented as children into the country and have been protected from deportation by the DACA program.
“Well what should happen is what I voted for in 2013, which was to resolve the problem,” he said. “Give them legal status so they're law abiding, and give them over the long term the opportunity to be a citizen. Which is what should've happened.”
Senator Alexander also talked about border security and the fence, and the E-Verify system for employers.
“If we passed the 2013 bill, we'd have solved our border security problems, we'd have 700 miles of fence, 20,000 new border patrol people, e-verify for employers, and we dealt with the DACA problem.
“What we should do today, I co-sponsored the President's proposal, which only got 39 votes. I thought he made a very reasonable proposal. I co-sponsored and voted for narrower bipartisan proposal, which got 54 votes. We need 60.
“So we need to keep working to make sure we take care of the Dreamers, and take care of border security. Those are two things.”