On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, South Carolina Republican and “gang of eight” member Sen. Lindsey Graham hinted that a bipartisan agreement on immigration reform is around the corner.
“I think we’ve got a deal,” he said. “We’ve got to write the legislation, but 2013, I hope, will be the year that we pass bipartisan immigration reform, signed into law with three goals: to do the bill in such a fashion to prevent a third wave of illegal immigration from happening in this country, to make sure that the guest-worker program is available to employers who can’t find an American worker, once you offer the job at a competitive wage, and turn our chain migration family-based immigration system into a merit- based immigration system with a family component.”
“We’re going to need new workers come into this country in the out years as our population declines,” he continued. “So, stopping that third wave means securing your border and controlling who gets a job in America. I think we’ve accomplished that in this bill. And I believe it will pass.”
Graham said he is confident the agreement would pass the House.
“We haven’t signed off. There are a few details yet,” he said. “But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves, that has to be drafted. It will be rolled out next week. Yes, I believe it will pass the House because it secures our borders, it controls who gets a job.”