Excerpt From: Charlotte Observer. Written By: Joe Marusak and Mark Price.
U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Saturday that he will continue to push for bipartisan reform to fix what he calls America’s broken immigration system.
“You will never satisfy the far extremes on the left and the right,” Tillis, R-N.C., told Fox News. His aim, he said, is “to get something to the president’s desk that he will sign.”
Tillis, a former N.C. Speaker of the House, has been meeting with congressional colleagues – Republicans and Democrats – on immigration and border security.
He told The Wall Street Journal recently that his plan would aim to tighten border security and toughen enforcement of immigration laws – goals often cited by Republicans — while providing some kind of protective legal status for the roughly 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally, a Democratic priority.
Asked by Fox News for his views on deportation, Tillis, a member of a Senate subcommittee on immigration, said: “Start by deporting dangerous criminals that are among us. We’re talking felons guilty of violent crimes, drug crimes, and communicate that there will be a consequence. That’s a great first step.”