"Fifth District U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, said he does not support a presidentially backed immigration bill and hopes it will not be resurrected in the Senate.

“The president is wrong on immigration,” Goode said.

The bill invited a firestorm of controversy by proposing immigration reforms such as a guest worker program and a path to amnesty for illegal immigrants already in this country.

It was sidetracked by critics earlier this month, but top Republicans said recently that they plan to revive the measure and bring it to a vote before July 4, The Associated Press has reported.

The amnesty provision is the element Goode finds most objectionable about the bill. It creates a process by which people in this country illegally would have an opportunity to apply for legal status, although they first would have to return to their countries of origin to apply.

That could be an eventual path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in this country, according to the AP.

“It’s a reward for coming into this country illegally,” Goode said of the amnesty provision, adding that he believes it will act as a “magnet” that will draw more illegal immigrants here.

Goode said what is needed is a more secure southern border.

“A fence needs to be built,” he said. Goode has supported creating a barrier across the border between the United States and Mexico.

He said localities should be reimbursed for holding people they arrest who turn out to be illegal immigrants until they can be deported.

Goode also said he believes there should be no “automatic birthright citizenship.” That gives illegal immigrants an incentive to come to this country and have children because they will be citizens, he said.

Some elements dealing with legal immigration that were considered during the debate on the bill are appealing to Goode.

During the process, changes were discussed that would reduce “chain migration,” an easier path to citizenship for relatives of immigrants, in favor of immigrants with more job skills, such as technical skills.

Goode said he is supporting a separate House bill that would reduce chain migration to immediate family members. Currently immigrants also can send for adult relatives.

One issue that concerns Goode about Mexican immigrants is what he sees as a lack of desire to be assimilated into U.S. culture.

“Some of those that come to this country from Mexico aren’t interested in assimilation. They’re interested in bringing Mexico to this country,” he said, noting as an example that there are Mexican flags in Mexican restaurants in Rocky Mount, but there are not foreign flags in other ethnically themed restaurants.

“I think when people come to this country they should be interested in assimilation,” Goode said." (Shawn Hopkins, Martinsville Bulletin, June 19, 2007)