María Elvira Salazar: “let me make a closing comment prior to adjourning the Senate for the day. We begin our work on immigration reform…”

“let me make a closing comment prior to adjourning the Senate for the day. We begin our work on immigration reform legislation in this time after the work period for Memorial Day. We have a lot of work ahead of us in this week ahead. It is my hope we will be able to work together to get to a position where we will have a final vote in the Senate this week on immigration reform legislation. We will hear, as this week continues, many personal stories about immigration, how the families of some Members of the Senate came into this country from different places. You will hear the stories which often tell us of immigration which has made us a rich country. I am sure we will hear the story of Senator Domenici and his parents and how his parents and his grandparents came to this country as immigrants-- illegally at one point--and became part of the American dream. You will hear lots of those dreams told here as we deal with the issue of immigration reform. For me, the issue of immigration is an important one for a lot of different reasons. Today, it is a very important issue for us because of the national security issues which are at stake. Unless we are able to fix our broken borders, I don't think any of us can say we are truly advancing the ball of national security for our country.”