Carol Miller

When you have the potential to administratively close hundreds of thousands of removal cases it sends a message and that message is crystal clear: If you make it past the border, you are scot-free.

What is troubling is that this administration, under the guise of lacking resources, has offered hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens administrative amnesty.

The last line of defense as we work to control the integrity of the border is interior enforcement.

Every single person who crosses the border illegally has committed a crime, and we cannot ignore that fact or sweep it under the rug.

Securing the Nation's border is one of the principal responsibilities of the Federal Government.

If the President wants to change the law he needs to submit a proposal to Congress.

Securing our Nation's border is certainly one of the principal responsibilities of the Federal Government.

I think that leads us to why we are concerned about this administrative amnesty, how we can be proactive as a Nation; reactive, after something happens.

I think we are putting our money where our mouth is in regards to prioritizing for border security.

It is well past time that we come up with a plan to secure the border instead of sending signals that make gaining and maintaining operational control even more difficult.

Either we are a Nation of laws or we are not--it is just that simple.

I continue to be a strong supporter of Secure Communities, a program that removes thousands of dangerous criminals from our streets every year.

I would just comment to Mr. Stana... when you said the amount of the budget that we are spending to protect, secure our borders...

So that is a very unfortunate backdoor amnesty, however you want to characterize.

This is definitely a step in the right direction, but there are questions about timeliness and reliability...

I think that is going to add to our problem. It is going to incentivize others to get here, stay here...

I think the gentleman has demonstrated a frustration that many of us feel...

We have to deny terrorists the freedom of movement because 10 years ago we saw what failure looked like very unfortunately on that horrific day which we all commemorated just this past Sunday.

By not seriously enforcing visa overstays, we are sending a message that if you make it past the port of entry, the chances of us ever finding you are slim to none.

It is theorized that about 40 percent of everyone who is here illegally didn't come across the border. They are here because of overstay of visas, 40 percent.

I think if we are serious about controlling who comes into our Nation and preventing another attack, we need to get serious about an exit program.

I really do not look at it as a Republican or Democratic issue. I see this in very nonpartisan terms.

The first and foremost responsibility of the Federal Government, and that is to provide for the common defense.

Cooperation, training, and collaboration must take place and must be practiced well before an incident happens.

I plan to zero in on the importance of maritime security for our Nation's economic well-being.