Political Quotes

“Amendment No. 1231 This immigration bill is long overdue. Our immigration laws in America have failed us. Since 1986, when President Reagan issued amnesty, we thought for a long time we had laws on the books that would stop the inflow of workers from overseas. We were wrong. Up to 800,000 come into our country each year. Three-fourths of them stay. When you do the math over a 20-year period of time, you realize how we ended up with 12 million undocumented workers in America. Our immigration system has failed. Let me salute Senators Kennedy, Specter, and all those who worked on trying to rewrite these laws. You can turn on the television any afternoon or evening and hear the screamers on the cable channels telling you how terrible it is that we are considering this law. Think for a moment. Those people screaming about this effort are endorsing what we currently have--a broken down, failed system that is unfair to the workers of America, unfair to our Nation, and unfair to those who were here working as part of our economy. What Senators Kennedy and Specter are trying to do is fashion a way through this madness to a law that will work. Are we sure it is going to succeed? Of course not. We cannot be sure. This is just the best of a human effort. But what they have tried to do is build into this concept basic principles.…”