The capture of the foreign-born Boston Marathon bombing suspects is already beginning to factor into the ongoing debate over immigration on Capitol Hill and will loom large as the Senate Judiciary Committee resumes debate over their bipartisan immigration reform bill on Monday.
Nearly two dozen witnesses are slated to address the panel, but the ongoing fallout over how the suspects got into the country could well overshadow the regularly slated witnesses, who range from the United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez and American for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.
Already, during a Friday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the legislation, just as the manhunt for the bombing suspects hit a crescendo, skeptical lawmakers were already beginning to use the suspects’ path into the country as reasons to put the breaks on reform.
“Given the events of this week, it’s important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in his opening statement. “While we don’t yet know the immigration status of the people who have terrorized the communities in Massachusetts, when we find out, it will help shed light on the weaknesses of our system.”
The suspected bombers, brothers Tsarnaev and Dzhokar Tsarnev, were born to a Chechen family in Kyrgyzstan but had settled in the United States with their parents by 2003. The younger Dzhokar Tsarnaev became a naturalized American citizen in 2012 while Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a legal permanent resident.
The bipartisan bill, sponsored by four Republicans and four Democrats, would implement a 13-year pathway toward citizenship, but would also increase security along the southern border.
With Republicans losing ground with Hispanic voters in 2012, immigration reform had already become a critical issue for the GOP, but one that was already creating a fissure in the caucus between those open to a pathway to citizenship and more hardline members.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) tried to preempt any pushback on Friday, issuing a joint statement that Boston shouldn’t deter reform efforts already underway in the Senate.









