Tom Cotton says he’s optimistic some type of immigration reform will pass through Congress

Sen. Tom Cotton said Tuesday that he’s optimistic some form of immigration policy will pass through Congress.

“I’m pretty optimistic. Democrats have said for years that they want to give legal status to these people. The president said he wants to, but he also knows that we have to control the consequences of that,” Mr. Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”

Mr. Cotton introduced legislation prior to the August recess that aims to reduce overall immigration, but rewards the best-skilled immigrants with employment visas. The Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy Act would be similar to the Canadian and Australian method of rewarding work visas and entry into their countries.

“We have to do something to stop chain migration. My bill does that. And we have to do something to enhance enforcement. That’s a very simple, logically coherent legislative package,” he said.

Mr. Cotton added that he will not support “blanket amnesty” or efforts toward comprehensive immigration reform arguing that incremental changes can fix the immediate problem. He also said that continuing with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), also known as the Dreamer program, would only encourage more people to come to the U.S. and put people at risk.

“How is it a moral policy to encourage more illegal immigration or turn a blind eye to it when you’re incentivizing people in Latin America to make a very arduous border crossing sometimes in the hands of human traffickers or so called coyotes,” he said.

President Trump is expected to end the Dreamer program, which allowed children brought to the U.S. illegally to stay. Lawmakers are expected to find a compromise on what the law will be with this group moving forward.