Political Quotes

“My amendment would bring down funding for ICE to fiscal year 2008 levels. I know that this is a time when it's critical to balance our budget and to cut government spending, and here's an example of a line item where we simply can't afford to continue to reward failure. This bill is a great place to start in making sure that we have a sound policy for our country. We can't afford to continue wasting billions of dollars of hard-earned taxpayer money to fund an Agency that, frankly, isn't producing results. This bill proposed to appropriate billions of dollars to ICE to enforce our broken immigration laws. That means they spend this money to continue deporting hardworking immigrants, separating families, and kicking out students who have lived in this country their entire lives, all at taxpayer expense. How much does this cost the American taxpayer? ICE itself has said that each deportation costs $12,500. Outside estimates actually put the number higher--around $23,000. In fact, it costs an average of $112 a night just to detain illegal immigrants. That's right. This country is putting illegal immigrants up, effectively, at hotels. We might as well put them up at a bargain hotel. Let's find a $49 room rather than spending $112 a night to feed and house illegal immigrants every night. My amendment will not end that practice, but it will take it back to 2008 levels. We simply can't deport our way out of our current immigration problems.…”