Pete Sessions: “I join with Senator Alexander in complimenting you and Senator Kyl for the legislation that you have just described for…”

“I join with Senator Alexander in complimenting you and Senator Kyl for the legislation that you have just described for us. The Senator from Texas, as I know, has taken the lead on this very important and complex subject. I salute you for it. Some would say it is a thankless task, it can't be done, and will make nobody happy. But I believe you have the right principles. If the right principles are applied with the right prescriptive language, we can make great progress in this area, and I salute you for it. Frequently have I quoted Senator Alexander in the phrase he has used: No child should grow up in America who doesn't know what it means to be an American. I think that is good for immigrants, too, as the Senator just said so eloquently. I salute him. I also thank the Senator from Texas for considering a critical component of this legislation he has proposed, and that is the part that deals with State and local law enforcement. I have just written a Law Review article for Stanford University to deal with that area of the law. Suffice it to say, local law enforcement does have complete authority to detain people who are violating the criminal laws of the United States. But that has been confused. Clearing this up more, setting up a mechanism so that they can participate if they choose, would be helpful to enforcing the law. That is so because we have 700,000 State and local law enforcement officers at every street corner and town in America.…”