Critics of the proposed new immigration policy have elected to exploit the recent tragic events in the city of Boston in a bid to slow down the seemingly unstoppable march toward reforming the broken immigration system in the United States. With the country’s attention now being focused on the prime suspects in the bombing, ethnic Chechens who are legal immigrants, the tragedy has been used by some citizens and lawmakers as an excuse to attack the new changes that have been proposed by the Senate.
Those who are against the new US immigration policies, which include allowing undocumented immigrants to be granted legal status, have long attempted to exploit fears about criminal or terrorist activities in their rhetoric and have now jumped on the April 15th bombings in Boston as reason to slow down the changes to immigration laws until security has been further tightened.
However, those who are in favor of the new immigration laws have pointed out that far from scuppering the revamp, the recent tragedy has, in fact, only provided further evidence that it is desperately needed. “Our law toughens things up,” notes Senator Chuck Schumer. “There are some on the hard right, some otherwise, who oppose our immigration bill from the get-go, and they’re using this as an excuse. We are not going to let them do that.”
Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham backed Schumer’s words, releasing a joint statement saying that the security of the nation will only be increased by their immigration reform bill.