Paul said he holds no grudge against colleagues who voted for it. | John Shinkle/POLITICO Paul 'pushing hard' on immigration

Sen. Rand Paul is not pleased with the passing of the immigration reform bill in the Senate, but he hasn’t given up hope that conservatives will get what they want out of the bill yet, as he plans to rally the House.

“I’m pushing hard with a lot of conservatives in the House to include congressional votes saying the border is secure. This, to me, is more important than even the number of border agents is that Congress votes we don’t leave it up to the president,” Paul, who voted ‘nay’ on the bill, said on Fox News on Thursday just minutes after the bill was passed.


His concern lies especially in the fact that the current bill in the Senate gives the president the power to veto certain amendments added, and might dismiss the fact that a secure border is necessary, since Obama has said before that the border is secure enough. The Kentucky Republican has been a staunch supporter of securing the border first before tackling the undocumented immigrants currently in the country.

( PHOTOS: 20 quotes on immigration reform)

“I want Congress to make the decision. The president already says the border is secure currently so that’s why I have a little bit of mistrust over the president making the decision,” he added.

Despite Paul’s disappointment in his colleagues in the passing of the bill, he seems to hold no grudge against the big-name Republicans who voted ‘yea,’ such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

“I think [Rubio’s] well-intentioned and I think he’s trying to do the right thing and so I don’t impute to him ill motives. I think his motives are genuine, he wants to do what a lot of us want to do and that’s fix the illegal immigration problem. I disagree with the final bill, but I think good people can honestly have disagreements,” he said.

( Also on POLITICO: Senate passes immigration reform bill)

The bill passed with a vote of 68-32.