Political Quotes

“In a 2009 Department of Homeland Security report, prepared by the research arm for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it says this: Virtually all immigration experts agree that it would be counterproductive to offer an explicit or implied path to permanent residence status (or citizenship) during any legalization program. That would simply encourage fraud and [encourage] illegal border crossings that other features of the program seek to discourage. In fact, for that reason and from that perspective, it would be best if the legislation did not even address future permanent resident status or citizenship. This a government agency making a plainly commonsensical statement that is virtually undeniable. A grant of amnesty is going to be counterproductive, and it is the kind of thing that would incentivize actions that our policies are designed to discourage--illegal entry into the United States. Indeed, increased illegal entries into our country are happening right now. The numbers are going up. Just on hearing that there is an amnesty plan afoot, immigration illegality is increasing. According to the Border Patrol, so far in this year 90,000 people illegally crossing the border have been taken into custody. That is 50 percent more than the same time last year. And 55,000 of them--I would note for those who are interested in this and recognize the international nature of it--55,000 of the 90,000 are not Mexican nationals.…”