On Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) unloaded a series of harsh criticisms on the \u201cGang of Eight\u201d immigration bill in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News.<\/p>\n
When asked if there is a concern that government bureaucrats may take advantage of nonspecific language in the complicated 1,200-page immigration bill, regardless of the intention of any given provision\u2019s author, Paul said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been saying for a few weeks now, that there are some similarities with Obamacare.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Gang of Eight bill delegates a lot of authority to the administration,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo, with my amendment, \u2018Trust But Verify,\u2019 we tried to get that authority back and keep it in Congress, where Congress would vote on whether the border is secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, whether or not these people become citizens, under the Gang of Eight bill, is up to the president,\u201d Paul continued. \u201cI don\u2019t care if it\u2019s a Republican president or a Democratic president. That\u2019s too much power for one person to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I would have kept that power with Congress and said Congress has to vote whether the border is secure before we keep moving forward. I would make even the initial process of giving work people visas dependent on a secure border,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
With help from the Gang of Eight Republicans, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid succeeded in a motion to table, or kill, Paul\u2019s amendment that would have secured the border before legalizing America\u2019s at least 11 million illegal immigrants. Paul\u2019s amendment also would have left the determination of whether the border was actually secured up to Congress rather than unelected bureaucrats and cabinet officials in the executive branch.<\/p>\n
Paul told Breitbart News he supports immigration reform but cannot bring himself to vote for this bill because to him it does not mean real immigration reform. Paul said that when Republican senators pushing the legislation admitted that they were not attempting to make legalization of illegal immigrants contingent upon real border security, he knew the efforts were not seriously to solve the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the turning point for me was when the Gang of Eight Republicans began to say that legalization of the undocumented workers here would not be dependent on border security,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThat\u2019s really the opposite of what I\u2019ve been saying and the opposite of what conservatives have been saying. Really, immigration reform should absolutely be dependent upon border security and, really, border security first.\u201d<\/p>\n