Immigration Reform Quotes - Page 5

• Our timing is right... The election results are still fresh in the minds of my Republican colleagues and they don't want to go through this again.

  Dick Durbin

  Mind, Immigration, Election Results

  5 Copy quote

• This isn't all going to be done in one day, either.

  Jeff Flake

  One Day, Immigration, Done

  12 Copy quote

• It's going to take a while for some of these things.

  Jeff Flake

  Immigration

  4 Copy quote

• These are people who wanted to provide for their family and wanted a better life. We've got to have a secure border. But we've also, we've got to act compassionately and recognize labor markets as well. ... I've never thought that it's [path to citizenship] a bad thing. If somebody is going to be here for 20, 30 years, to give them some skin in the game, if you will, to hold out the prospect of citizenship.

  Jeff Flake

  Years, Games, People

  "Jeff Flake: Marco Rubio key on immigration". www.politico.com.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm also particularly pleased that there is bipartisan support to include the input of border communities. Not only will security be strengthened according to Washington, D.C., but border communities will have a say as well.

  Jeff Flake

  Support, Community, Immigration

  "Who Are the Gang Of 8 in Senate Immigration Debate?" by Mary McGuire, abcnews.go.com. January 30, 2013.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• There will never be a bill without a pathway to citizenship signed by the president...And in turn there will never be a pathway to citizenship without a new immigration system replacing the current one.

  Lindsey Graham

  President, Pathways, Immigration

  4 Copy quote

• From a policy point of view, I don't think it's the right approach. I don't like the idea of having millions of people here for their entire life without being able to assimilate into America...From a political point of view, we've got 55 Democrats sent and a 72 percent support for a path to citizenship. It's just not practical to think we'll be able to pass any bill in the United States Senate without a path to citizenship.

  Lindsey Graham

  Thinking, Views, Ideas

  6 Copy quote

• When it comes to immigration reform, now is the time ... I've never seen a better political environment ... I'm not doing immigration reform to solve the Republican Party's political problem. I'm trying to save our nation from, I think, a shortage of labor and a catastrophic broken system.

  Lindsey Graham

  Party, Thinking, Broken

  4 Copy quote

• I am confident - very confident - that if I help solve this problem in a way that we won't have 20 million illegal immigrants 20 years from now, not only will I get re-elected, I can look back and say I was involved in something that was important.

  Lindsey Graham

  Years, Important, Immigration

  4 Copy quote

• It may have hastened the move of the former Minority Leader Trent Lott, to the private sector because there was such an outpouring of bitter criticism...The result, if this is successful, will not be much different from what Sen. Lott and others were trying to enact back then...It may be that we are all just older and wiser.

  Roger Wicker

  Moving, Successful, Criticism

  "Senate GOP raises eyebrows at Gang of Eight plan". www.politico.com.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The politics, policies, the President [Barack Obama] and the American people are all pointing in the right direction to fix our immigration system and pass legislation this year.

  Luis Gutierrez

  Years, People, President

  9 Copy quote

• We know that a ready amnesty tends to be an invitation to more illegal entries.

  Jeff Sessions

  Immigration, Amnesty, Illegal

  19 Copy quote

• There's a lot of overconfidence about this bill. We're going to expose it. It will not pass.

  Jeff Sessions

  Immigration, Bills, Overconfidence

  4 Copy quote

• You're not supposed to be admitted to America if you're likely to be a charge on the public - if you're going to need government aid to take care of yourself ... It [2006 immigration bill] failed because it did not do what it said it would do... End the illegality first. Then we can wrestle with how to treat compassionately people who have been in America for a long time.

  Jeff Sessions

  Government, America, Long

  55 Copy quote

• We believe that people should wait their time, and people should be able to be accepted here - over a million a year - in an orderly process, not a disorderly process, and that we should not be rewarding those who violate the law, and making even harder for those who try to comply with the law.

  Jeff Sessions

  Believe, Years, Law

  4 Copy quote

• Amnesty will not help balance our budget ... In fact, a large-scale amnesty is likely to add trillions of dollars to the debt over time, accelerate Medicare's and Social Security's slide into insolvency and put enormous strain on our public-assistance programs.

  Jeff Sessions

  Balance, Immigration, Dollars

  10 Copy quote

• We have history as a guide, and history suggests that this brand of comprehensive reform ... is a recipe for failure.

  David Vitter

  Immigration, Reform, Recipes

  4 Copy quote

• I think something substantial will pass out of the House at some point during this term.

  Justin Amash

  Thinking, House, Immigration

  4 Copy quote

• Gotta have safety at our borders. We're a sovereign nation, gotta protect our borders. Make sure the workplace doesn't become a magnet for folks to be hired without the authorization. And then let's be realistic and sensible about how we approach all those folks who made America their home, established businesses, have children who have gone on to be valedictorians at their high school - and let's do these things in a very sensible way.

  Xavier Becerra

  Children, Home, School

  8 Copy quote

• It is my hope that I can stand before you in two years and report back that our side, as well as the president's, found within us the ability to set differences aside, to provide relief to so many millions of Americans who simply want their life to work again.

  Eric Cantor

  Years, Two, Differences

  "Eric Cantor: Dreamers Should Receive Pathway To Citizenship" by Elise Foley, www.huffingtonpost.com. February 5, 2013.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• I still believe the momentum is there to accomplish comprehensive immigration reform, and I think there is a bipartisan coalition that would pass right now, a pathway to citizenship if Speaker Boehner lets it come to the floor.

  Joaquin Castro

  Believe, Thinking, Pathways

  4 Copy quote

• It's different when you talk about immigration in the abstract... It's very different when you sit in front of a family, and [undocumented] children who grew up in this country, and who go to the same school you once went to... They thought if we only enforce the law, people will self-deport... It's not going to happen. The solution is not the status quo, or deportation when you're talking about breaking up families.

  Mike Coffman

  Country, Children, School

  11 Copy quote

• I am now more sure than ever that we're going to have a bipartisan bill ... making incredible progress.

  Mario Diaz-Balart

  Progress, Immigration, Bills

  4 Copy quote

• A guest worker program should help farmers who are willing to pay a fair wage for law-abiding, dependable workers - not punish them ... And for this reason I support replacing the H-2A program and implementing new policies that will bring our illegal agricultural workers out of the shadows, as a first step in the process of overhauling our nation's immigration system.

  Bob Goodlatte

  Law, Support, Shadow

  6 Copy quote

• The time for common-sense immigration reform is now," Grayson said in a news release. "We must set forth a straightforward route to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants who already live in our communities, work for our businesses and want to give back to the country that they call home.

  Alan Grayson

  Country, Home, Common Sense

  4 Copy quote