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Rep. Tom Reed calls for Congress to act to solve the immigration crisis

Rep. Tom Reed
Provided
Rep. Tom Reed

Congressman Tom Reed is calling for bi-partisan action to solve the immigration crisis.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, the Southern Tier Republican says he would support a bill that strives to keep children from being separated from their parents, providing that the adults were not involved in some kind of criminal activity such as human trafficking or drug smuggling.

“Overall, if we can keep these families together, and there’s not a criminal situation that is causing the adults in that group to have to be held accountable to that criminal activity, I think there’s a solution here that keeps these families together as they go through the immigration process.”

Reed called on Congress to act to change the law so that children are not separated from their parents.   

“We need to fix this problem legislatively; that is by elected officials in the House and the Senate working together, like we did in the Problem Solvers Caucus, with the proposal we came up with, that solved this issue to a great degree; that is the appropriate venue.”

Reed says any solution on immigration will require 10 votes from Democratic Senators to make it a reality.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.