Bob Menendez: “From my State of New Jersey and that part of the State in which I live, we can almost touch Lady Liberty. She is that…”

“From my State of New Jersey and that part of the State in which I live, we can almost touch Lady Liberty. She is that close to us from a State park called Liberty State Park, an area I had the unique privilege of representing in the House of Representatives for 13 years and an area I still represent as the junior Senator from New Jersey, an area I have fond memories of because of the power of what it means. From that same park we can cross a bridge and go to Ellis Island, a place to which millions came to America to start a journey, a journey that contributed enormously to its great promise, enormously to the great country that it is today. I rise to discuss the recent cloture vote on immigration with that context in mind. The Senate had a historic opportunity to move forward today with comprehensive immigration reform that truly secured our borders, that realized the economic realities of our time and allowed people the opportunity to come out of the shadows into the light to earn their legalization. Unfortunately, the Senate decided to maintain the status quo, a status quo of broken borders, that does not meet our economic challenges, and that permits human exploitation and trafficking to take place.”