Sweeping immigration bill clears procedural hurdle in Senate

Published Tuesday, June 11, 2013 / The Five

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," June 11, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: Well, some historic votes today in the Senate on an immigration bill that would open a door to citizenship for millions of illegals in this country.

Here, two proponents of comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama and Republican Senator Marco Rubio.


PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: This bill isn't perfect. It's a compromise, and going forward nobody is going to get everything that they want. If you think that a broken system is the best America can do, I guess it might make sense to try to block it. But if you actually are serious and sincere about fixing a broken system, this is the vehicle to do it.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: The first and foremost thing that it does, it says to the people that are here illegally, come forward, we have a process for you that you're going to have to undergo to be in this country legally.


TANTAROS: Recently, Marco Rubio came under fire for saying that citizenship should come before border security.

Eric, you spent some time on the Hill today. You broke away from "The Five" for a little bit. Did you learn anything on what we can expect?

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: You know, I did. I sat with Senator Rand Paul for lunch in the Senate dining room -- very nice, by the way. I'll show you a picture later in the show.


TANTAROS: Get a haircut?

BOLLING: No, I didn't get a haircut. I think they shut that down.

By the way, you bought me a sandwich for lunch, too, thank you very much.

I came up with something. We talked and we kind of -- he was talking about how Texas is working with the boarder, but Arizona and New Mexico weren't. I said, Senator, what's different. He said the Texas border is pretty much privately owned.

So, if ranchers own the border between Texas and Mexico, that's not the case in New Mexico and Arizona and somewhat California, said why don't we do this? That's all federal land, by the way. Why don't we sell that federal land or give it to someone willing to secure the border. Let the private sector handle border security.

Like you know, we have had this discussion, like an enlightening moment for a minute, I think it might certainly help.

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: Those private land owners do not provide border security. They are the ones who bring illegals in so they can do their work.

BOLLING: No, he said it's working. He says, they don't want the problems. They don't want the crime and they secure the border in Texas.

PERINO: They also don't care about the lives, that they don't want people coming across on their land. Ranches are so big, and sometimes the heat so strong, and especially if it's a child or woman unable to take care of themselves, one of the thing ranchers do, but I am making his point.


TANTAROS: Could I ask you about the politics on this a little bit? So, Harry Reid said he would allow as many amendments as possible, and there's one school of thought believe he is purposely doing this so Republicans will add all of these amendments, then he can say, see, they're blocking immigration reform, maybe Republicans are adding amendments to go to their districts and having to say, see, these Democrats don't want border security but we do.

Who do you think is right or maybe both?

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Well, lots of gamesmanship, I have a particular opinion about Senator Reid's action in 2007 which ended that opportunity for comprehensive immigration reform, that was a political decision on his part.

So, there's a lot of politics that go back and forth. The challenge for the politicians involved, they have to communicate very succinctly and clearly to the American people, because you're going to have so many theories on the left and the right about what's actually in the bill. You can already see it if you follow on Twitter, it's very confusing. I am going to watch this debate. After it passes the Senate, if it passes Senate, then I'll take a good hard look what's in it. It still has to go to the House and, you know, how the bill becomes law.

BECKEL: The politics of this, Republicans are going to pass it because they've got to pass it, because without Hispanics, they have no chance of being a national party.

TANTAROS: But there's a lot of opposition in the House. Even if they get it out of the senate this summer, there's still a lot of Republicans that are not psyched about the bill at all.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Look, I think I am like most Americans. I want a process but I don't want a procession. This is a procession. The fact is if we do this, why not cut out the middleman, have all of the new immigrants report to DNC headquarters and Wasserman Schultz can swear them in, because that's what they're talking about?

I want to know, Bob, I want to know, will this path to citizenship include the Irish or Poles? I expect as much diversity to get in a Utah barbershop quartet.

BECKEL: None of these people will vote for 15 or 20 years.

TANTAROS: Is that why union bosses were standing with President Obama today because they're interested in membership and it is the quickest way to get it?

BECKEL: They were fighting it, they didn't want underpaid workers coming in.

BOLLING: There's no question the Republican Party has to figure out a way to bring the Hispanic vote back into the fold, when George Bush 40 something percent, they need to do it.

Can I offer something else? How about increasing legal immigration? We let about a million people, how about letting 2 million or 3 million in.


GUTFELD: Why does the bill need to be a thousand pages?

PERINO: Every comprehensive bill has to be a thousand pages or it is nothing.

GUTFELD: Ground the government. Tell them to limit bills to 10 pages, including cartoons. This is ridiculous.

TANTAROS: In Greg Gutfeld's world, they're grounded from a couple of episodes --

GUTFELD: Exactly, government is still in it's room, not watching TV or listening to records.

PERINO: Do you have Wi-Fi in there?


TANTAROS: It should get spanked.

GUTFELD: Yes, everybody should.
