Sanders Statement on Rounds-King Immigration Bill

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement Thursday after the Senate voted on four immigration proposals:

"With an extremely anti-immigrant president in office who precipitated the current DACA crisis, I fear very much about the fate of 800,000 Dreamers who will soon be losing their legal protections under DACA and be subject to deportation.

"The Rounds-King compromise bill, vigorously opposed by the Trump administration, would have provided legal protection and a path toward citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants. I am sorry that it was not passed.

"That said, this clearly is not the bill I would have written. What we should be doing is passing a clean Dream Act with a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and their parents. We also need to move forward and pass comprehensive immigration reform that will allow people to come out of the shadows and will unite families – not divide them.

"While we need strong border security, President Trump's idea of spending $25 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border is totally absurd and a waste of money. I will do everything I can to prevent that from ever happening."

Contact: josh_miller-lewis@sanders.senate.gov