Tom Carper: “before I say a word on immigration reform, I would like to add a closing word to the comments of the Senator from…”

“before I say a word on immigration reform, I would like to add a closing word to the comments of the Senator from Washington and the Senator from Iowa. Just as Senator Murray has talked about her own family experiences with her dad and mom and all, my own mom passed away about 2 years ago. She had had Alzheimer's disease for a number of years. Her mother had Alzheimer's, her grandmother had Alzheimer's, and last year my mother's younger sister, 10 years her junior, was admitted to a residential facility in Huntington, VA, where she has Alzheimer's disease as well. This is one that strikes close to the heart for us and our family as it does for you and literally for millions of families across the country. Thank you for your great leadership and that of Senator Harkin and Mike Castle, my own Congressman, who has been a stalwart in these efforts. I would like to return to an issue we have been focused on in the Senate in the last couple weeks and that is what we do to secure our borders, what to do to make sure employers are not knowingly hiring illegal aliens, at least not without penalty if they do, and what are we going to do about the 12 million or so people here undocumented, roughly 60 percent of whom came here illegally. What are we going to do about all of that? For a while this afternoon, it looked like we might not do anything.…”