Senator Rand Paul has claimed to have a great deal of sympathy for those undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as minors and says that he is in favor of immigration reform, despite having previously voted against the comprehensive bill that was passed by the Senate last year.
The senator has also previously voiced opposition to the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, which allowed up to 500,000 undocumented immigrants who were underage when they first arrived in the United States to be exempted from deportation. The program was initiated by President Obama in 2012 amid much resistance from the Republican party, with the House of Representatives attempting to pass legislation to close the program down.
“If you want to let people stay in our country with PhDs and Masters [degrees], almost everybody, Republican and Democrat, is for that,” Paul claims. “That could be done tomorrow, but it is held hostage to a big bill.” Paul has previously claimed to be in favor of immigration reform during the On the Record show on the Fox News Channel, saying that he has always been open to talking about the issue.
“I’m very open to discussing that I think there should be some kind of immigration reform, but I don’t think you can do it without first securing the border, and that’s the problem with the president doing this unlawfully,” Paul stated. He has made it clear that he does not support giving amnesty to undocumented immigrants.