Toby Roth: “Mr. Chairman, we have been told here this afternoon by our friend, for example, from New Jersey that we are all a nation…”

“Mr. Chairman, we have been told here this afternoon by our friend, for example, from New Jersey that we are all a nation of immigrants, and of course no one would deny that, because we all are a nation of immigrants. But that is not the issue here. The issue here is one of illegal versus legal. Yes, no one likes to be pointed out as a group, and I think no one wants to do that. The United States is a nation of individuals, not a nation of groups. And it seems to me we got into this hassle in this country when we began looking at ourselves, as groups rather than as individuals. And, as Woodrow Wilson said, as long as you consider yourself a part of a group rather than a individual, you are not really assimilating into American society. We have heard a lot of red herrings today, a lot of issues very emotional that have nothing to do with this particular amendment as I see it. You know, if we give additional dollars to illegal aliens, are we not taking money away from the people who are the citizens of this country? And where does our first obligation lie? With the citizens of this country. I think so. And that is why I think that this particular amendment makes a lot of sense. We do have problems with illegal aliens. OK. If you do not like the solution, what are your solutions, how would you address the issue?”