Political Quotes

“I listened carefully this morning to Senator McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who came to the floor to speak to the issue of the border crisis which we now face. I acknowledge, as everyone should, that we are facing an unprecedented number of people who are presenting themselves at our southern border from primarily three countries--El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. These people who are presenting themselves, for the most part, are not trying to sneak across our borders; they are literally coming up and presenting themselves--identifying themselves--to the first person they find in a uniform. The reason is they want to apply for asylum in the United States. They want to make the argument that they have credible fears that might entitle them to be considered as asylees in this country, which is a legal classification. After they state that they seek that status, they are taken into our system. They then, ultimately, go through a hearing process, but that hearing process is not done quickly. In fact, it can take months and sometimes years before the actual hearings take place. Because we are seeing so many people coming--especially young children who are accompanied by their parents or who are even on their own--it has created a special challenge for our border authorities. I was down in El Paso just a few weeks ago. I met with the Border Patrol agents and the Customs and Border Protection agents, and we talked about the challenges they face.…”