I am proud and thankful that America is one of the most welcoming nations in the world to immigrants; especially considering my own family emigrated here from Spain in 1725. Our current immigration system, however, is broken and inadequate to meet the needs of our modern economy. The problems with our immigration system are numerous – weak border security, an ineffective VISA tracking system (which loses track of persons who arrive legally but overstay their VISA), an antiquated employment VISA system which does not meet the labor requirements of today’s economy, and numerous other problems. This broken system compromises our nation’s security, is unfair to those who come here legally, and negatively impacts our economy.

Enhancing border security must be a top priority as Congress works towards reforming our immigration system. I strongly oppose illegal immigration and do not believe we should give amnesty or any other reward to those who have broken our nation’s immigration laws, because doing so simply encourages continued lawbreaking and greater illegal immigration in the future. I believe that citizenship should be reserved only for those persons who go through the Naturalization process. In addition, we need to develop stronger rules to prevent employers from hiring persons who are here illegally. We also need to reform our education visa system and we need to stop our visa lottery system.

The House is currently working on its own framework for immigration reform. As an executive committee member of the Immigration Reform Caucus, I hope to have a part to play in this important process.