Lateefah Simon: “Every change we have made in immigration in the past has been prospective, not retroactive. That is the way it should…”

“Every change we have made in immigration in the past has been prospective, not retroactive. That is the way it should be. To say that if, for example, Senator DeWine was the chief sponsor for an immigrant named Senator Ford, and he agrees to be responsible for 3 years, that is the way it should be. When we change that to 5 years, we should do it prospectively, not retroactively. That is No. 1. The second point is that we should not go back to Senator DeWine and say, sorry, you agreed to 3 years, now we are going to make it 5. This is the point the Senator from Florida has made which is very important. There are thousands of students who are legal immigrants in this country, who are going to become citizens, and without this amendment, they cannot get any benefits in this country, and they are going to have to leave school. Without this amendment, they lose all education assistance. I do not think that makes sense for this country. So I am pleased to cosponsor this amendment with Senator Graham. I think it is important, and I hope it will be adopted.”