Rep. Raul Grijalva blasts Republicans for using Boston bombings to stall immigration reform

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona slammed Senate Republicans on Monday for using the Boston Marathon bombing to fight against comprehensive immigration reform.

"To prey on the raw emotions of the American people right now, after this tragedy in Boston, to prey on their insecurities and justifiable anger, to try to delay a bill, stall a bill so nothing is done, is nothing more than a tactic, and it’s very disappointing," he said on MSNBC. "If you want to have security in this country, part of the package has to be comprehensive reform so the millions of undocumented people out there come forward, we know who they are, and you begin to cull who is eligible for a path to citizenship and who should not be here."

Republican senators like Charles Grassley of Iowa and Rand Paul of Kentucky have urged caution following the Boston Marathon bombings last week, claiming the immigration reform bill lacks national security protections. The two alleged bombers were refugees from Chechnya, a war-torn region in southern Russia.

"I don't know how Sen. Grassley or anybody else would be able to pry into the very core of of a human being when they are 16-years-old to find out they will be part of a horrible act like this ten years later," Grijalva said. "The fact remains that we're going to pay another $5 billion on top of $18 billion for security along the border. That $5 billion should be targeted, it should go after the terrorism question we are talking about."

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