Sen. Ron Johnson already has a border security bill in the works.
The Wisconsin Republican, who is the incoming chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Monday he is working on a new bill that will include a guest worker program to reduce incentives for illegal immigration, with hopes it can be passed under the new Republican-controlled Congress in January.
Johnson voted “no” on the infamous Gang of Eight’s immigration reform act in 2013. He hopes to move his border bill “as quickly as we can” in order to solve the immigration system in a piecemeal approach.
The bill would work on progress already made by Congress, ensuring that 90 percent of would-be border crossers are stopped, he told the Associated Press in an interview published Monday.
President Obama is also preparing to take executive action on immigration by the end of the year, something Johnson hopes he can counter and stop with legislation of his own.
“Regardless of what President Obama does I’m going to move forward with a very strong border security bill,” Johnson said. “I hope President Obama doesn’t take that executive action because I think for many people that will poison the well and certainly make it more difficult to solve the immigration problem.”
Johnson also said he’s hoping his legislation can be met with acceptance by the Latino community.
“The No. 1 incentive is people coming into this country seeking opportunity and seeking work. We need a functioning guest worker program,” he said.
Johnson said last June that he voted against Senate Bill 744 – the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act – because he thought it would not solve the illegal immigration problems.
“I support immigration reform and a path to legal status for people whose only crime was to enter the country illegally when they came here to work,” he said in a statement.
Only seven percent of Americans now consider immigration and illegal aliens the most important problem facing the country after peaking at 17 percent in July, according to Gallup poll conducted in October — showing a downward trend in concern about the issue.
In August, this number was 15 percent before slipping to 12 percent in September.
