Nathan Deal: “I think it should be abundantly clear as a result of the debate on the previous bill and on this bill here that the…”

“I think it should be abundantly clear as a result of the debate on the previous bill and on this bill here that the enforcement of our immigration laws has a very low priority in the minds of some, and perhaps not the same degree of urgency that it has in the minds of others who have appeared before this body today to speak. I would simply say that we are dealing with two very separate and different issues here. One is truly the issue of unfunded mandates. By definition, we have traditionally thought of that as this body passing laws that have costs that are associated with other levels of government paying for them; namely, States and local communities. Here we are not talking about passing laws, we are talking about the failure of the Federal Government to enforce its existing laws, that is, namely, our immigration laws; and by failing to do so passing on, by virtue of court decisions, the costs to States and to local communities in the cost of education. If we are not serious about doing anything about unfunded mandates, then simply let us defeat this proposal. But if we are serious about it, then we should restore to the level of government that is having to pay for these decisions the power to make the decisions: namely, States and local communities.”