Sen. David Perdue: DACA Solution Must Be Bipartisan

A bipartisan solution must be reached for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but meanwhile, "we all want a compassionate solution that must include a fix for our archaic system," Sen. David Perdue said Monday.

"I applaud the president for reaching out," the Georgia Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program, while discussing the immigration legislation, the RAISE Act, which he has co-sponsored with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas.

The RAISE Act seeks to reduce levels of legal immigration by cutting the number of green cards issued to the United States by half. It also imposes a cap of 50,000 refugee admissions a year, while ending the visa diversity lottery, and encourages merit based immigration.

"Three-fourths of Americans want some sort of reform in immigration based on merit, as we have seen it," said Perdue, noting that the act is based on a "Democratic idea" in the 1990s under then-President Bill Clinton, when a group was commissioned to study immigration.

"They came on a solution based on the immigration policies in Canada and Australia," said Perdue. "That is what we have done here. The president has been outspoken that this is the time to go fix this. I believe he is right."

Perdue also commented about Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin's comments to "Fox News Sunday" that Democrats are moving forward with the understanding that they can work with the White House "to come up with an agreement that includes DACA, that includes citizenship for those who are protected under the Dream Act, and also has a substantial commitment to increased border protection."

The matter is a national security issue, said Perdue. "Parts of that border needs a wall. No question about it. This president said we are going to build a wall. We will build that wall. Let's not miss this historic opportunity to fix the immigration system to better our economy. That's what this is all about. Only one in 15 immigrants that come in our country today come in based on work."

The rest of the immigration issue is caused by "chain migration," Perdue continued. "The rest of it is chain migration. Unfortunately, the result of it is half the immigrant households in this country are in our welfare system. That's not the American dream we want."

Almost two-thirds of Americans believe there needs to be a merit-immigration system, Perdue said, "just like the president has outlined. Tom Cotton and I have been working on this for months. I can tell you it should be a bipartisan solution because the Democrats had the first idea in the 1990s."

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