John Cornyn: “Specifically what this amendment would do is deal with El Salvadoran immigrants who are the subject of the so-called…”

“Specifically what this amendment would do is deal with El Salvadoran immigrants who are the subject of the so-called Orantes injunction. This was issued by the Federal court in Los Angeles in 1988, and still exists today, which inhibits the Department's ability to use expedited removal when it comes to Salvadorans. It is clear when you compare the track record for the Salvadoran population as opposed to those from other countries that expedited removal works. But for this injunction, which impedes the ability of the Department to use the expedited removal, I believe we would see a tremendous level of deterrence which would help, in connection with everything else we are doing, to discourage illegal immigration into our country. The only reason I stand here today and am talking about this amendment and I am not able to ask for an up-or-down vote on this amendment and to implement this request from the Department of Homeland Security which will help us fix our broken border security system, which will allow us to use expedited removal, is because the Democratic leader sought, by use of a procedural motion last night about 6 o'clock, to make a set of circumstances where we could not have a vote on that amendment. I think this is another test, a test of our will, a test of our national resolve to fix our broken immigration system and to secure our borders.…”