Ben Rhodes Quotes

The truth is, most undocumented immigrants come here for economic opportunity and the American Dream. They aren't seeking tax credits or handouts.

This issue of border security is not about, about ethnicity. I sit there on occasion with 10 or 12 sheriffs from my district, many of which are Democrats with last names like Reyes, with last names like Herrera and Lucio. And they are crying out for border security as well. So again, this is not an issue about being anti-Mexican.

There are parents who are really angry that I decided to portray people who have come into the country illegally as decent human beings.

As Congress continues to debate ways to address illegal immigration, we must remember the many hard-working legal immigrants that contribute so much to our nation's economy and culture.

Illegal immigrants make a rational choice when they decide to violate our immigration laws. They weigh the costs, including the risks of getting caught, against the benefits of a better life.

No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws, and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can't do that.

Every town has become a border town and every State has become a border State.

We are not going to build a pressure in Mexico. We're not building walls to retain our people.

We need to know who's in the United States. We need to know everyone who's in the United States that comes in here from a foreign country. And we have to separate the ones who are dangerous from the ones who aren't. To accomplish that, we need a fence. We need a technological fence. We need a border patrol.

I didn't come into politics to have to deal with the issue of clandestine entry, illegal working, or an asylum system that allows a free run for right-wing bigots.

Of course, everyone in the New World is an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants, and immigrants have built America and continue to do so. Legal or illegal, they are almost universally good people who work to better their lot and that of their children.

If you can’t control your borders, you can’t control immigration. And if we can’t control immigration, there is no way re can reform immigration.

Neither party wants to do anything about the immigration problem. The Republicans want the cheap labor. The Democrats want the votes.

First of all, stop immigration immediately!

One way to sensitize Washington to the illegal alien problem is to make them pay for it.

We cannot and will not surrender our border to those who wish to exploit our history of compassion and justice.

Illegal immigration undermines legal immigration.

Our naturalization and immigration laws should be further improved to the constant promotion of a safer, a better, and a higher citizenship. A grave peril to the Republic would be a citizenship too ignorant to understand or too vicious to appreciate the great value and beneficence of our institutions and laws, and against all who come here to make war upon them our gates must be promptly and tightly closed.

We need employer sanctions to avoid illegal immigration so that legal immigration may dominate.

Little America

As a nation that values immigration, and depends on immigration, we should have immigration laws that work and make us proud. Yet today we do not. Instead, we see many employers turning to the illegal labor market. We see millions of hard-working men and women condemned to fear and insecurity in a massive, undocumented economy.

As long as there are jobs waiting in our country, there is no way we can stop illegal immigration at the borders.

Our current immigration laws are in a word --- unjust!

The system is broken …. We must secure our borders. But we have to have a way of matching willing workers with willing employers and have a way for people to do the jobs that Americans don’t seem to want to do…. But I don’t believe that we are going to take people who have been here for 40 or 50 years and ship them back where they came from…. As long as there is a demand for workers, workers will come.

Create legal immigration channels that are wide enough and efficient enough that people choose to go through our system, not around it, We should have an orderly system in which families can stick together, people have rights, rules are enforced, and employers don’t cheat to undercut their competition.