Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, and particularly the gentleman from California (Chairman Cox) for yielding me time and for working and participating on this amendment. I rise today in support of the Cox-Sensenbrenner amendment which authorizes funding to train State and local law enforcement officers to perform immigration officer functions. I submitted a nearly identical amendment to the Committee on Rules because I believe this amendment provides the help our local law enforcement needs to enforce our Nation's immigration laws and keep our citizens safe. I am proud to stand today with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), my chairman, and the author of the underlying bill, the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox), the Committee on Homeland Security chairman, to urge my colleagues to support this funding. Under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, State and local governments can enter into cooperative agreements with the Department of Homeland Security to train on Federal immigration law and be reimbursed for that training. This amendment would authorize the funds needed for that reimbursement for States all across this Nation. There are two reasons to encourage local police to assist in enforcing immigration laws. First, while there are an estimated 8 to 10 million illegal aliens in the United States, ICE currently has only about 2,000 special agents to identify and remove them.…”