McCaskill Helps Shape Bipartisan Immigration Proposal

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today announced she is throwing her support behind a bipartisan immigration amendment she helped shape, along with Republican Senators Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other members of the Senate’s “Common Sense Coalition” working group—to beef up border security, protect DREAMers, and target drug traffickers. “Like any solid, honest compromise, this deal won’t give everyone all of what they want,” McCaskill said. “But it achieves many of the goals we all share—ensuring our borders are strong and secure, protecting young people who were brought to this country as kids through no fault of their own, and giving DHS the tools they need to reduce drug trafficking—and it’s time to see enough elected leaders muscle up and get this bipartisan deal through Congress.” McCaskill was recently one of only a few Senate Democrats to vote against the government shutdown, and has been deeply engaged with a bipartisan group of Senators to pursue long-term immigration solutions. Of McCaskill’s participation in these negotiations, Senator Collins recently said she played an instrumental role in negotiations and was “very constructive…she was helpful in talking about the harm that the shutdown would do to our military in particular and she kept reminding people of that fact to urge them to come to a compromise.” The Senators’ bipartisan legislation would provide legal status to 1.8 million DREAMers and authorize $25 billion for additional border security measures over the next ten years, including money to hire additional officers at the nation’s ports where the majority of illegal drugs enter the United States. McCaskill recently introduced a bill to strengthen border security and target drug trafficking by requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hire additional officers at ports of entry in order to fill a current staffing shortage of more than 3,600. The amendment offered today includes funding McCaskill has been seeking to address the shortage of port officers. McCaskill, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform that would strengthen border security, and address millions of immigrants illegally in the United States. McCaskill has called for more border security funds at ports of entry in order to strengthen efforts to intercept illegal opioids and other drugs entering the country. Last year, McCaskill’s bill to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s program that targets transnational criminal organizations on the border and at U.S. ports in order to combat drug and weapons trafficking and other crimes was approved by the Senate Homeland Security Committee.