Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Lankford said a split Congress does not have to deter immigration reform.
Speaking Thursday at the National Immigration Forum event "Leading the Way: An American Approach to Immigration," Lankford said lawmakers can find things to agree on, like granting citizenship to those brought into the U.S. illegally as children, but outside of that, it gets tougher.
"There’s a lot of folks in my state that hold their hands up like, 'Whoa. I have great compassion for kids and they should get access to get citizenship, but adults that violated the law, I don’t like that their end result of violating the law and crossing the border illegally also ends with citizenship,'" Lankford said.
When it comes to federal immigration reform and a DACA fix being delayed, Lankford blamed courts for gumming up the works by getting involved in President Trump’s decision to end the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
"We’re meeting every day, multiple times a day, trying to be able to work out an agreement, and, suddenly, when the courts pulled it out, I can’t get anyone to be able to sit down and visit anymore because it’s like, 'OK. The deadline’s gone,'" Lankford said.
Multiple lawsuits have resulted in two district courts halting the end of DACA.
Lankford said another needed fix is the "temporary protected status" tag, which has frequently resulted in long-term stays.
"But for those who have been here legally present for 20, 25 years, those folks should have access to be naturalized and to be a part of our culture and be able to be here," Lankford said. "They’re legally present, they’ve followed all the rules the same way. I think that’s an honest conversation that we can have with folks."
Lankford said four different immigration bills this year drew support from a total of 80 senators, showing him there’s enough common ground to get something done.
