Arizona Senator John McCain is pushing the comprehensive immigration reform bill he helped to write, telling Republican-leaning crowds that it will create jobs and boost the economy.

On Tueday, McCain told 150 of his constituents in Tucson, Ariz. that the Senate's reform bill, which offers a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, isn't perfect, but it's better than the alternative.

"I don't think that any legislation that is a series of compromises that need to be made is perfect, but we now have, for better or for worse, 11 million people who are residing in this country illegally," McCain told a crowd at Herbert K. Abrams Public Health Center. "I don't believe any of us think we are going to round up 11 million people and send them back to where they came from."

That legislation stalled in the House of Representatives, amid the concerns of conservatives and Tea Party members that it did not do enough to enforce border security, despite the million of dollars allocated to that purpose by the bill.

"Now there are people in this room who will say, 'Well, but the border's not secure,'" McCain said. "The border is not secure. But it's a lot more secure than it was back in 1986 when we gave amnesty to 3 million people," he said, referring to the last time an immigration reform bill was passed by Congress.

McCain insisted the reform bill would have a positive effect on the nation's economy, a position supported by most independent reviews of the legislation. Polls show a majority of Americans, and even a majority of Republicans support the measures outlined in the bill.

"We all respond to our constituents," McCain said. "Over 70 percent of the people in Arizona support a path to citizenship if they pay back taxes, learn English, get in line behind everybody who has waited legally, and so we hope to convince them without being disrespectful to my House colleagues."

The House is on a five-week recess until September, but supporters of the legislation are using the break to lobby members of Congress that are still undecided.