Byron Dorgan: “It is not an insignificant issue; it is a very significant issue with great policy implications for our country. We will…”

“It is not an insignificant issue; it is a very significant issue with great policy implications for our country. We will hear that it is a moral imperative that we deal with the issue of immigration. There are people living among us in this country who have been here 10, 20, 25 years who came across the border decades ago. They found work here, raised a family here. They were model citizens. I understand that we are not going to round up people who have been here for 2 rac{1}{2} decades and deport them to say: You have come illegally and therefore you are not entitled to stay. That is a different sensitivity, however, than what is in the underlying bill that says: By the way, if you came here by December 31 of last year, we will deem you to be here legally. I think there are serious problems with that approach.”