U.S. Senator John McCain on Security, Immigration Reform, and Economic Integration
“I would submit to you today that with each passing year…the main goal for all of us is how we increasingly lift our common sights and focus our common efforts beyond our hemisphere," said the senator, who was honored by COA's 2013 Chairman's Leadership Award.
“I would submit to you today that with each passing year…the main goal for all of us is how we increasingly lift our common sights and focus our common efforts beyond our hemisphere.”
Council of the Americas honored luncheon keynote speaker Senator John McCain with COA’s Chairman’s Leadership Award. AS/COA Chairman John Negroponte bestowed the honor and lauded the senator’s commitment to the promotion of crucial hemispheric affairs such as comprehensive immigration reform and regional economic cooperation.
McCain, a member of the Gang of Eight bipartisan group of senators behind the current immigration reform bill, gave his perspective on the why legislation's approval is crucial. He said that recent polls show that 70 percent of Americans support an immigration reform bill that involves a legal path to citizenship. The senator said that the reform would help with gains in security and getting control of the border by requiring employers to go through a verification process for employees. “If we are to compete and succeed in today’s global economy, we need to provide secure and lawful new avenues for the peoples of the Americas to follow their dreams,” he said.
Expanding on the topic of security, the senator also noted the urgent need to combat drug abuse and for the United States to acknowledge its role in fueling Latin American violence through drug demand. “The scourge of illegal drugs, fueled most of all by the persistent demand for them right here in the United States, has spurred the growth of transnational drug trafficking and criminal syndicates that are literally corrupting entire governments and undermining their control of their countries,” said McCain. “We need to meet these threats head on—smartly, with the rights tools and capabilities, yes, but also together, without fear or suspicion of one another.”
But the senator also spoke about regional cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, and economic integration. “The task of building a fully secure, free, and prosperous hemisphere is not finished. All of us know this. But I would submit to you today that with each passing year—as democracy, peace, and prosperity touch more and more of the people of our hemisphere—the main goal for all of us is how we increasingly lift our common sights and focus our common efforts beyond our hemisphere.”
Watch a video of Senator McCain's remarks: