Political Quotes

“the answer to that question allayed one of my principal concerns about this amendment, because in the original form, the form that was at the desk, there was no recognition of the children of persons who were in the country illegally in terms of their participation in elementary and secondary education. In fact, there was a provision which would have allowed the States to have terminated educational assistance to those children as well as the Federal Government terminating whatever assistance it provides. With that modification, I will reserve final judgment as to how I will vote on this amendment. But I would like to raise the fundamental issue, the Federal Government has the total constitutional responsibility for the enforcement of our borders, and for our immigration and naturalization law. It is written almost in those terms in article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The States have no authority in either of those two areas. Second, when the Federal Government fails to carry out its responsibility and to enforce the borders, it is the States and the local communities who have the principal obligations and consequences of that failure. Third, those consequences are heavily focused in about six States. Six States have over 80 percent of those persons who are in the country illegally living within their borders.”