U.S. Rep. Gosar: Immigration reform isn’t on his list
Oct 18, 2013, 7:22 AM | Updated: 7:22 am
PHOENIX — On the heels of the 16-day government shutdown, President Barack Obama is renewing his push for comprehensive immigration reform.
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said the president can push all he wants but immigration reform is a dead issue to Gosar and many of Gosar’s fellow GOP members.
“There’s no trust in this administration with everything the President has done. Why would we go through the immigration process to see him do whatever he wants to do?”
In June, after the Senate approved an overhaul of America’s immigration system with strong support from Sen. John McCain and Jeff Flake, Republicans from Arizona, Gosar told local media, “There’s no way in hell I’m voting for that bill.”
KTAR political analyst Mike O’Neil said it is now or never for comprehensive immigration reform. Congress has budget fatigue after the shutdown and this creates an opening for dealing with reform, he said.
“They will come back in January and talk about budget and that will be followed by the 2014 midterm elections and I don’t believe they will touch immigration then,” O’Neil said. “It’s appropriate that the president brought it back to the table, but I don’t know if he can pull it off.”
O’ Neil said a Republican failure to address immigration reform could tag them as the ‘anti-Hispanic party.”
