WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and James Lankford (R-OK) issued the following joint statement on the “Gang of Six” legislation:

“Any successful immigration deal must be a balanced compromise that both provides a long-term solution for DACA youth and effectively secures our borders. Simply put, it needs to permanently fix both problems. As we have said from the beginning, any successful deal also needs buy-in from the White House. Unfortunately, the ‘Gang of Six’ proposal falls short since it fails to include even basic border security reforms.

“Threatening a government shutdown or demanding a vote on a bill that is doomed to fail is counterproductive. It is also unfair to give false hope to the many DACA recipients waiting on Congress to finally enact legislation.

“We introduced the SUCCEED Act to offer a vision of what a fair and merit-based solution for DACA youth could look like, with the full expectation it would have to be paired with effective border security, personnel, and technology in order to become law. While the ‘Gang of Six’ proposal doesn’t meet those parameters and doesn’t have the support of the White House, we still believe that we’re closer to a deal than we’ve ever been, and we are ready to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to get this done. It’s time for elected officials from both parties to work together and negotiate in good faith so that we can provide certainty to our immigration system and security to our nation.” 

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