John Cornyn

It is my pleasure to speak on behalf of the nomination of Marina Marmolejo.

I ask for 2 more minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I really think that the problem Congress and the Federal Government have is a credibility problem when it comes to our immigration system.

There is no place, in my view, for making it up as you go along.

To put a point on it, actually, the alien can benefit from his or her own country refusing to accept them back because the Supreme Court has said in Zadvydas, you cannot detain these people more than 6 months.

The average time it takes to dispose of an immigration case, the national average, I believe, is 467 days.

It is incredibly unfair that if you happen to be an immigrant from a country who is cooperative on removal, then you are likely to be detained, you are likely to be removed.

Throwing resources and additional staff at a broken system is not a solution.

In California, it is 639 days, and I am glad to say in Texas it is 253 days, although I do not think that is anything to be proud of.

It serves no one's interest to have cases languishing for years before a decision is made.

Criminal offenders are our highest priority and this year I think you will see for the first time in the Agency's history, we will remove more criminal offenders than non-criminal offenders.

Is the DHS aware that immigration courts are dismissing cases involving criminals due to backlogs?

When will CBP have all ports of entry equipped with license plate readers?

I have introduced a bill called the Emergency Port of Entry Personnel and Infrastructure Funding Act of 2009.

I am absolutely committed to working with our colleagues to try to make sure you get the resources you need in order to do your job.

This is not a zero sum game, even though Senator Schumer and I are having some good-natured competition.

We need to clamp down on the cartels who exploit every avenue to transport guns, drugs, and people in and out of the United States.

So Secretary Napolitano claims that the border is open for business. But at what level?

44 percent is nothing to celebrate nor should we declare that our work is done so we can then move on to other things.

We know from experience at our ports, borders pose a national security risk.

I think as we approach this and we recognize this is a beginning of a process that is not really part of what Congress does, we legislate prospectively, not retroactively.

I think we can all agree that broadband access has been a very positive thing in terms of our country and the world and our ability to communicate, our ability to do business.

I ask one further unanimous consent, and that would be that an article from Legal Newsline about a discovery dispute still delaying the resolution of the theft case against Motley Rice be printed in the Record. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro…

I will proceed, then, under the standing order which gives me up to 10 minutes, as I understand. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.

I have the floor. The Senator is out of order. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas has the floor.