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Senator Sessions:

“On this July Fourth, it is time to focus squarely on the needs of the American people who have given their blood and sweat to deliver us this magnificent Republic.

For instance:

Stop promoting amnesty. Instead, send a clear message to the world: If you attempt to come here unlawfully, you will be sent home. And send a message to our neighbors in Latin America: If you do not accept repatriation of your citizens who entered unlawfully, you will not be provided any more legal-immigrant visas.

Protect the workplace. Protect the jobs and wages of lawful residents. This can be done by expanding, as previously planned, the effective and easy-to-use workplace verification tool known as E-Verify, used to confirm a job applicant’s legal status. Senate Democrats have blocked this measure.

Remove the tax-credit magnet. According to the IRS inspector general, in 2010 the U.S. improperly paid out $4.2 billion in taxpayer money to illegal immigrants in the form of the additional child tax credits — often to support children who are not even living in the United States. We can end this practice by simply requiring a valid Social Security number, as the IRS inspector general has recommended. Senate Democrats have blocked this measure, too.

Help our unemployed get back to work. With a record 58 million working-age Americans not working, we need to get our people off unemployment, off welfare, and into good-paying jobs that can support a family. Doubling the already large and continuing flow of legal immigration, as the Senate bill proposed, clearly works against this goal.

Create the conditions for rising wages. It is the job of lawmakers to represent all citizens, not just the denizens of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, and certainly not the narrow financial interests of international corporations with facilities spread across the globe. As long as we provide employers with an ever-increasing supply of low-wage workers from abroad, American wages are not going to rise. If a job is tough, or difficult, or in high demand, why shouldn’t wages go up?

Challenge the president’s lawlessness. The president made clear with his Monday announcement on executive actions that he plans to go even further in not enforcing America’s immigration laws. Congress simply has no choice but to use its substantial constitutional powers to confront the president’s lawlessness. And if the Senate Democratic majority continues to empower this illegality, then they should be exposed publicly and held to account for doing so. To violate even further his constitutional requirement to enforce the law – regardless of what other measures are taken – will ensure that the border crisis continues.”