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

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

It is for the agencies to tell the Congress what kind of resources are actually necessary.

My personal belief is it clearly is [administrative amnesty], and that in no way diminishes our respect for the brave men and women in the Border Patrol or in ICE and the work that you do all the time.

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

I don't think anybody disagrees with the concept, certainly, of removing criminal aliens from the United States.

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.

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

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

I have seen some numbers as high as, you know, $10 billion to $15 billion of additional cost that the States and local governments are absorbing because the Federal Government is really not doing the jobs that we should do as adequately as…

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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...

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

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.

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.

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

I always say that the first and foremost responsibility of the Federal Government is to provide for the common defense.