By Greg Halbleib

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis says he hopes a compromise immigration bill can be sent to President Trump this week that will stiffen enforcement while keeping families together.

Davis (R-Ill.) said the issue is more than who crosses the border, but also what crosses it.

“It’s not just about illegal immigration. It’s about drugs that are ravaging our communities coming up through the Mexican border and into our small towns and bigger towns in Central Illinois,” Davis told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin. “We’ve got to have a structure. To say we don’t need that is demagoguery at its best.”

Davis said he wants families at the border to stay together, but added he wants law enforcement to be able to confirm they belong together.

“We kid ourselves if you don’t think that there are human traffickers that bring multiple children into this country and plead asylum,” Davis said. “We have to make sure that we give every law enforcement officer a chance to verify that these children coming into this country are actually the children of the people who are bringing them into this country.”

Davis said he hopes a compromise immigration bill can make it to President Trump this week.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].