Wes Hickman or Kevin Bish

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today applauded President Bush’s immigration reform plan. He made the following statement: “There’s no doubt we have problems with our immigration policies and they must be addressed. The president’s proposal represents the middle ground in this debate and I applaud President Bush for presenting his ideas. “The president’s proposal allows immigrants who are working to come out of the shadows and benefits businesses seeking to avoid being placed in unnecessary legal jeopardy for hiring labor. It also enhances our homeland security efforts by giving us a record of who is the working in the country and makes a real effort to shrink the underground labor market which suppresses the income of legal workers. All-in all, it’s a very good starting point for Congress to begin our deliberations. “There are other issues we must address in addition to those presented by the president. A high priority of mine is much tougher physical protection of our border and creating tougher barriers to entry. “The San Diego Border Fence, a state of the art nearly impenetrable barrier, has made illegal entry much more difficult. Once a haven for illegal crossings the barrier has stopped the flood of border crossings from Mexico. It has worked and I believe we need to explore the option of expanding it to protect more miles of our border.” ####