Sessions accuses Obama of ‘secret’ meetings with special interests on immigration

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said President Obama is shutting out the American people by holding “secret” meetings with special interest groups on immigration reform.

“Once again, our leaders are meeting in secret with narrow special interests to decide the fate of our immigration system while everyday working Americans are shut out,” Sessions said Tuesday.

“President Obama is meeting privately with the most powerful men in finance and business to discuss how to bring in more low-wage labor at a time when millions of Americans can’t earn enough to pay their bills. He’s meeting with progressive activists to discuss amnesty and chain migration.”

Sessions said the companies and groups Obama is meeting with only care about maintaining low-wage workers and don’t care that it might harm U.S. citizens trying to make a living wage.

“Somehow I doubt Goldman Sachs or La Raza is speaking for these Americans,” Sessions said. “We have seen this before: the ‘masters of the universe’ want low wages and cheap labor and don’t seem to care much about how it impacts workers or taxpayers. All lawmakers — Democrat, Republican, Independent — have a responsibility to our citizen and legal immigrant constituents to put their needs ahead of the special interests President Obama is meeting with today.”

Last month, a bipartisan group of eight senators outlined immigration reforms that would later be turned into legislation addressing the “broken immigration system” in America. Some Republicans have suggested that lawmakers have tried to fix the immigration system before and it hasn’t worked when some immigrants are given a form of amnesty.

Session said that allowing more immigrants to become citizens would increase the federal deficit by making more people eligible for federal benefits such as Medicare and Medicaid.

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