Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican Representative, met with some of his constituents during a Town Hall meeting that was held in August County in order to talk about the issue of immigration reform. The Hill reports that the meeting was attended by immigration advocates who asked the representative questions in regards to his opposition to reform.
Goodlatte informed voters that he wished to see an increased level of enforcement surrounding such policies before undocumented immigrants are granted legal status, according to sources. One attendee of the meeting asked about Goodlatte’s stance on the issue of the Senate immigration bill that featured legislation regarding border security written into it already, and wanted to know why he had not taken up that legislation.
However, while there were more than three dozen immigration advocates that attended the Town Hall meeting, the great majority of the voters who were at the gathering were attending in support of Goodlatte, with sources saying that his followers applauded his comments regarding the addressing of US visas enforcement, guest worker reform and employment verification mandates prior to citizenship being granted to undocumented immigrants.
“We have to take this one step at a time,” Goodlatte is reported as saying. “I think there’s a decent chance that we will take something up, but we have to have enough consensus within the majority, and hopefully we’ll get some support from the minority party as well, to be able to actually move it out of the committee. So we’re going to find out when we get back.”