Reuters
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist strongly defended on Sunday the path to citizenship for illegal immigrants offered in the Senate's immigration reform bill, citing national security concerns.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the Tennessee Republican said a failure to hold out the hope of citizenship to people living illegally in the United States would encourage the estimated 12 million illegal aliens to "stay in the shadows. "
The reality is you can't just take 12 million people here, millions of whom are fully assimilated into our society ... and send them back" to their countries of origin, Frist said.."
Posted by katie at May 29, 2006