“Now is the time to bring all of the 11 million [undocumented immigrants] out of the shadows and find out who they are. Most of them are here to work, but we may find some terrorists in our midst,” Graham said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “What happened in Boston … should urge us to act quicker, not slower, when it comes to getting the 11 million identified.”

Schumer echoed that message and accused those urging a slower process of using the Boston tragedy as “an excuse” to kill the bill.

“Certainly, keeping the status quo is not a very good argument, given what happened [in Boston],” Schumer told CNN’s Candy Crowley.

“There are some – some on the hard right, some otherwise – who opposed our immigration bill from the get-go and they’re using this as an excuse. We are not going to let them do that,” Schumer added. “If they have a reason – a suggestion – as to how to change it [the bill] based on what happened in Boston, we’ll certainly be open to it. But we’re not going to let them use what happened in Boston as an excuse because our law toughens things up.”