At a stop during his Alabama economic development tour at the Energex Tube facility in Thomasville on Thursday, Sen. Jeff Sessions had some strong words about the current immigration battle being waged on Capitol Hill for Ashley Knight of Mobile-CBS affiliate WKRG 5. (video above)

“I’m telling you — I’ve looked at it, I’ve studied it,” he said. “It will not work. It does not strengthen enforcement in any effective way.”

The economic effects of the proposal according to Alabama’s junior senator would include a negative impact on wage rates for two decades.

“It’s going to make it, at a time of high unemployment, flat wages for maybe 20 years-plus,” he said. “We need our wages to start going up.”

Sessions pleaded for compassion and for ending “illegality.” But he said previous efforts to curb illegal immigration, including a previous legislation promising a border fence, have failed to do accomplish meaningful results at the expense of the taxpayer.

“American people are being ripped off,” he added. “They’re being told time and time again we’re doing things that are going to stop the illegality and it’s not so. The government has failed to follow through and this bill will continue that.”

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