Skip to footer

Immigration reformers McCain, Schumer agree on need to halt 'future wave'

Sens. John McCain (R) and Charles Schumer (D) help craft the immigration reform bill the Senate is now weighing. Americans will support it if they trust that enforcement is robust enough to prevent a 'future wave' of illegal entries, the senators say.

|
Michael Bonfigli/The Christian Science Monitor
Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York and Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona speak at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C. They were guests at the April 25 Monitor Breakfast.

Sens. Charles Schumer and John McCain are part of a bipartisan group of senators pushing immigration reform. Senator McCain (R) of Arizona was his party's 2008 presidential standard-bearer. Senator Schumer (D) of New York is vice chairman of the Democratic caucus. They were guests at an April 25 Monitor Breakfast.

How acting on immigration could improve Congress's standing with the public:

McCain: "The American people are interested in seeing some result from the Congress.... [In a recent poll,] members of Congress ranked just below a colonoscopy. We'd like to get above a colonoscopy."

How immigration reform could help the Republican Party:

McCain: "I have no illusions about whether passage of this legislation will gain Hispanic voters. It won't. But it will put us on a playing field where we can make an argument ... to gain Hispanic support."

The impact of the Boston Marathon bombings on immigration reform:

Schumer: "We require machine reading [of the travel documents] of any person who leaves the country or comes back.... [Authorities] would have known that someone on the [watch list] was both leaving and entering the country and it might have made the difference."

The importance of enforcement measures to win passage of immigration reform:

Schumer: "I agree with John.... The American people will support common sense, balanced solutions to legal immigration and the 11 million who are here if – and only if – they are convinced there will not be a third wave, future wave of illegal immigration."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Immigration reformers McCain, Schumer agree on need to halt 'future wave'
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2013/0510/Immigration-reformers-McCain-Schumer-agree-on-need-to-halt-future-wave
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe