On the recordMay 20, 2010
We're a Nation. We can't call ourselves a Nation if we can't define ourselves by borders; and the border must be defended, and we must protect it, and we must control who goes in and who goes out. The Constitution has a couple of places where it addresses immigration. I'd point that out if the Attorney General were still sitting in this seat here that we're required, the Federal Government, is required to protect us from invasion. That's one of the components. And then in article 1, section 8, it says that Congress should establish a uniform naturalization law. Well, we have done that for a uniform naturalization. That means whatever nation you come from, you go through the same tests and meet the same standards and there won't be different criteria from one State to another, so that people can become Americans under a standardized formula. But it doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution that the States cannot support Federal immigration law.
