GOP Senator Conflates Immigration Reform and Boston Attacks

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Colorlines' Seth Freed Wessler weighs in on the latest troubling comments from Republican Sen. Charles Grassley that confuse the two issues.

As news from Boston continues to break, the Senate Judiciary Committee moved ahead this morning with a hearing on the comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced earlier in the week. As I noted after the bombing earlier this week, immigration reform has a troubled history when it's conflated with terrorism. At the hearing this morning, at least one Republican began to associate the Boston bombing with immigration reform.

"While we don't yet know the immigration status of people who have terrorized the communities in Massachusetts, when we find out it will help shed light on the weaknesses of our system,” said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee's ranking member.

"How can individuals evade authority and plan such attacks on our soil," he added.

Read Seth Freed Wessler's entire piece at Colorlines.

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