ROSEVILLE, Calif., May 6 (UPI) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Congress and U.S. President George Bush are to blame for the failure to enact immigration reform.
Schwarzenegger said Congress shouldn't have left for vacation without inking a deal between a hard-line House bill and a Senate measure that is more lenient for undocumented workers.
"For them to go home for spring break and not really take care of it when they know this was boiling here in this country is also irresponsible," he said, speaking at a press conference at a Roseville, Calif., middle school.
Among other aspects, the House bill would make felons of undocumented workers; the Senate bill would allow them to earn citizenship.
Millions of people have marched in rallies across the United States in recent weeks in protest over the House bill, which Schwarzenegger said is a clear sign the public isn't happy with Washington squabbling on the issue.
Schwarzenegger, who emigrated from Austria to the United States in 1968, said the ability for terrorists to cross the border isn't a good situation either, the Los Angeles Times reports.
He said the immigration issue has been around for 20 years without any real action, adding, "I think that all of this comes down to one thing: The federal government has failed the people of America in a terrible way, in a disastrous way, when it comes to this immigration situation."
