John Cornyn

I would like to work with you to try to figure out how we can change the paradigm to one that will actually work, because I am not sure we will ever have enough good guys to outnumber the bad guys in this area.

I happen to be a Christian. That's an article of my faith as well.

If there is a group that is in need of pastoral counseling, it is the U.S. Congress. I can attest to that.

I actually believe related to the earlier question that it's also--combining that with a difficult but genuine and realistic path to citizenship is really the only way to determine who is in our country.

I don't think it's that simple either.

I know sometimes people get the impression that in Washington nothing gets done on a bipartisan basis. But that is just not true.

I am absolutely committed to the cause of open Government and freedom of information.

I think it was Ralph Waldo Emerson that said, 'To the person whose only tool is a hammer, that person tends to regard every problem as a nail.'

I just can't imagine that this is an infeasible thing to do.

I do believe that we are not going to get comprehensive immigration reform done unless we get this done right.

This has got to apply to every employer, doesn't it, if it's going to work reliably in a non-discriminatory way?

I think you said that only 14 percent of new hires are run through E-Verify today.

I was reminded before the hearing of a story that I read recently about a new project to identify 1.2 billion Indians.

Some form of verification system is going to be an essential element of immigration controls.

They must know what they're talking about, Mr. Chairman.

I agree with Senator Schumer, the E-Verify system is broken and we must act to fix it.

The main reason why Congress has been unable to deal with this issue effectively... is because of the lack of confidence that the American people have that we're actually serious about, as Senator Schumer said, operational security at the…

Your statement is an excellent statement.

It really is the foundation, I think, upon which it's going to be built.

I find troubling, though, the idea that the Office of Legal Counsel would render an opinion on the constitutionality of a statute and that the administration might in its discretion overrule that decision.

There is no more important Committee in the Senate than the Judiciary Committee.

Congress cannot pat itself on the back, in other words, and say, 'Way to go. We sent money for infrastructure.'

This is something we ought to be able to agree on.

We are talking about robbers, rapists, murderers.

Do you think the best solution to that is more Federal law enforcement officials at the ports of entry or better technology or data sharing?