US Immigration reform prospects fall over congressmen dropouts

Two key members of the bipartisan working group have backed off from the final round of negotiation, saying they can’t back the reforms as they can’t trust President Obama.

Sam Johnson and John Carter, both Texan Republicans, confirmed on Friday they had backed out of negotiations, saying they’d reached a tipping point after four years’ work as they could no longer believe in the tactics of the Obama Administration. Politics, they added, is getting in the way of securing the country’s borders and reforming the visa programme.

Congress, they believe, is being passed over and the constitution and letter of the law is being disregarded. Their exodus marks the continuing deterioration in the House of bipartisanship, demonstrated last week by the vote in favour of a $40 billion cut in the food stamp scheme and the defunding of Obama’s healthcare law by the use of a spending bill.

Representative Luis Gutierrez, also part of the group, is blaming GOP leaders for the problems, saying that its work was being rejected by Republican leaders. The Republicans, he added, should decide whether playing politics is the right thing to do when what’s needed is to help the country by solving its controversial issues.

In the meantime, Republican Mario Diaz-Balart has affirmed his intention to continue with the group, stating that he has no intention of giving up fighting for the reforms. I’m looking, he said, to find the solutions that the American people are demanding and that America deserves.