John Ensign: “I yield the Senator from South Carolina 4 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina is recognized.…”

“I yield the Senator from South Carolina 4 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina is recognized. Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I rise in support of Senator Ensign's amendment. I very much appreciate him offering it on behalf of the American people. I also appreciate the efforts of all my colleagues who I know have worked in good faith to try to create a better immigration system that works for Americans and our heritage of welcoming immigrants. As we have gone through this process, I think it has been a good, civil, and constructive debate, but some of us are just coming down on different sides. My hope was as we went through this debate that we would recognize the urgent sense that Americans have what we need to secure our borders and that we need to stop illegal immigration before we expand legal immigration or increase benefits to those who are here illegally. I had hoped that when Senator Isakson offered his amendment that included comprehensive reform but created a commonsense sequence, that we in America would see that we need to control our borders before we add additional legal immigrants. But when that amendment failed, I think it discouraged a lot of us, that perhaps everyone wasn't working in a way that would be constructive for America's future.…”