On the recordAugust 1, 2014
At the end of the day, the question may not be: Who are the children at the border, and why they are here? The question may be: Who are we as a Nation, and why are we here as a Congress? Our reputation has been never to turn people away, our reputation should never be to turn children away to what could be a certain death or a very difficult situation. This is not a crisis. This is a situation that we have had before and we have known how to deal with. This is a moment for our country to show who we are. The world is looking. These are children. It is not their fault that they are here. There are many conditions that have brought them here. But how we act will be our fault if we don't act properly. How we act will be our legacy. This is not who we are as a country--I repeat. We are much better than that. We have to understand that these are children, these are our children. Just because a border separates us, this doesn't stop them from being our children. Let's turn down and reject all of this nonsense that we are doing, and let's try to help them and help them in the proper way.
Source
govinfo.gov




