Tom Tancredo: “I have on many occasions risen on this floor to address the body with regard to the issue of immigration and immigration…”

“I have on many occasions risen on this floor to address the body with regard to the issue of immigration and immigration reform, and tonight is no exception to that rule. I do this often because I believe it is a significant problem, perhaps the most significant problem we face in this country from a domestic policy standpoint. We argue on the floor of the House day in and day out and night in and night out about a variety of issues. All of them, of course, have major consequences. We have spent a long time debating the issue of airline security, for instance. It was mentioned again just in the course of the previous speaker's comments. It is undeniably an extremely important issue, the issue of airline security. It is for those of us, especially, who fly as often as those of us in the House do. I, for one, am on an airplane twice a week, and my family are off and on airplanes. I assure the Members that I have just as much concern about airline security as the next person, and perhaps more so, from a very personal standpoint. Therefore, the decisions we make in this House with regard to the particular kind of security that is put in place are certainly important. I do not mean for a moment to suggest that they are not relevant to our debates here. But I do mean to suggest that they are not as important, Mr. Speaker, as one other issue. That issue is the defense of our borders.”