Political Quotes

“I am pleased to hear both of my distinguished colleagues talking about the necessity to protect those who go into a situation such as that. In an earlier career in law enforcement I had the experience of going on raids or arrests or hostage situations, oftentimes in the middle of the night. They are a very frightening thing. I suspect those immigration officers and marshals also have families who worry about whether they are going to come back alive. They are entitled to some protection, too. They talk about a frightening picture of a man so intimidating that everybody would stand still. His finger was not on the trigger of his gun. If you look at the picture, the safety was on the weapon. An unarmed female INS officer, with no body armor or anything else, came in there, putting her own life at risk so the little boy would not be frightened when she picked him up. And she spoke to him in Spanish. The Miami relatives could have avoided this. The Miami relatives took a position they wanted to help little Elian and hurt Fidel Castro. They helped Fidel Castro and hurt little Elian. They should have given him back to his father long ago. Instead, they made this whole situation necessary. The officers who went in there are entitled to protect themselves. If I were their spouse, if I were their child, I would hope that they would. Then to accuse them of brainwashing or drugging this little boy is scandalous.”