Credibility in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: those who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave."
Barbara Jordan, February 24, 1995. Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) was a Civil Rights leader and was the first African-American woman elected to the Texas Senate, in 1966. She was the elected to the U.S Congress and served from 1973 to 1979. She was appointed chair of the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
Illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration...
People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the US legally..."
We now have an actual humanitarian crisis on the border that only underscores the need to drop the politics and fix our immigration system once and for all."
We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country."
I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in. And I do think you have to control your borders."
Open borders? No, that's a Koch brothers proposal... That's a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States... It would make everybody in America poorer —you're doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don't think there's any country in the world that believes in that.gg"
All Americans, not only in the states most heavily affected, but in every place in this country are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public services they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens. In the budget I will present to you, we will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify illegal aliens in the workplace as recommended by the commission headed by former Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it."
Black males are more likely to experience competition from illegal immigrants. It is not just the competition and the unemployment of blacks. It also depresses the wage levels."
Our borders have overflowed with illegal immigrants placing tremendous burdens on our criminal justice system, schools and social programs. Our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens getting welfare, food stamps, medical care and other benefits often without paying any taxes.
Safeguards like welfare and free medical care are in place to boost Americans in need of short-term assistance. These programs were not meant to entice freeloaders and scam artists from around the world."
The day when America could be the welfare system for Mexico is gone we simply can't afford it and I think you've seen the figures to state and local governments of what the cost is - it's over two billion dollars. I think we should enforce our borders to have a situation where 40% of the babies born on Medicaid in California today are born of illegal immigrants creates a very real problem for the state which is in deficit... 17% of our prison population and a cost of 300 million a year the illegal immigrants who come here and commit felonies...."
But if there were no illegals being used to break our strikes, we could win those strikes overnight and then be in a position to improve the living and working conditions of all farm workers.
We're against illegals no matter where they work because if they’re not breaking the strike they’re taking our jobs."
The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become... We have to address the population issue. The United Nations, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say 'I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration'."
Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin's governor, then U.S. senator. Founder of Earth Day, 2001.
We cannot have open borders. That's a totally absurd proposition. It would depress wages here enormously, and tens of millions of people from all levels, including scientists and workers, would be pouring into this country."
Ralph Nader, consumer rights champion and former leader of the Green Party of the United States, October 22, 2000.
The Fresno (CA) Bee, October 22, 2000.
Overpopulation is perhaps the biggest problem facing us, and immigration is part of the problem. It has to be addressed."
David Brower, in his message of resignation from the Sierra Club board of directors. Brower led the Sierra Club for years and was twice nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for his work as a conservationist.
The Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorized the construction of 700 miles of the same style of bollard fence that Trump is building at the border, was supported by 26 Senate Democrats at the time. In the House, 64 Democrats joined 219 Republican lawmakers to fund the border fencing.
Those Democrats in support of funding the bollard border fencing included:
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE)
Then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
All 54 Senate Democrats, in 2013, voted again to commit funding to secure 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border in the Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act — which was authored and introduced by Schumer.
In the lead-up to the 2010 midterms, when John McCain aired an ad in which he said “complete the dang fence,” 46 percent of Democrats were for “building a wall or security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border to stop illegal immigration,” according to a Fox News poll.
