Douglas Alexander: “this afternoon at 5:30 we will be casting two votes: one on Senator Bingaman's amendment which has to do with border…”

“this afternoon at 5:30 we will be casting two votes: one on Senator Bingaman's amendment which has to do with border security, the second is a different kind of amendment. It is an amendment about what I call the rest of the immigration story, helping prospective citizens become Americans. I know border security is extremely important. We are starting with that because the principle of the rule of law is at stake. I know it is extremely important for us to create a temporary legal status, as has been discussed this afternoon by Senators Cornyn and Kyl and Sessions, for students we welcome here to study and workers we welcome here to work. We are going to be talking today and this week about that. But I submit the most important thing we will be discussing this week, and the most important part of any story on immigration, has to do with a different principle, and that is the three words right up here above the Presiding Officer's chair, ``E Pluribus Unum,'' one from many, the motto of our country, the greatest achievement of the United States of America. We have taken all this magnificent diversity from all over the world and we have turned it into one nation, a nation with a common heritage, a common history, a common language--something no other country in the world has been able to do nearly as well. This amendment is about redoubling our efforts to help prospective citizens who are here legally to become Americans.…”