Daniel Akaka Quotes

I love immigrants. Legal, illegal - they're not to be despised.

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 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.

The factual reality is that the vast majority of immigrants - legal and illegal - contribute more to this country than they take out in social services.

Immigration—legal and illegal—has shaped and will continue to shape California's destiny.

Immigration policy should be based on what is good for America, not what is good for Mexico. Immigration to America should not be the safety valve for Mexico.

Our country is a country where immigration is history and it is a country where immigration is destiny.

We must come up with new immigration laws to … show that we are a compassionate nation of immigrants.

We are a nation of immigrants, and if the truth be known, don't we need a whole lot of immigrants to be buying homes and to drive our economy and to take jobs that U.S. citizens don't want?

The story of undocumented immigrants in this country is not just about undocumented immigrants. It's about the country as a whole, and it's about us being able to tell the truth about where we are with this issue because we haven't been telling the truth about where we are with this issue.

I'm not saying we need to stop immigration at all; people can come from wherever.

Well, you know, I think in conversations with members of the Senate and others, they all recognize that the issue of immigration is important. It's important to our nation, it's important to our public safety, it's important to our security, it's important to our economic well-being moving forward. And it's not something that's going to go away.

I'm not anti-immigration.

For a few years, more people have been leaving our country than entering it. Wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward.

There should not be a question of legal or illegal immigration. People came and immigrated to this country from the time of the Indians. No one's illegal. They should just be able to come.

At the beginning of the 60's our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country. We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone.' But this isn't reality.

In Tagalog, we call undocumented people 'TNT,' which means tago ng tago, which means 'hiding and hiding.' So that's literally what undocumented means in Tagalog. And that kind of tells you how Filipinos think of this issue, and really any culture, right?

As the 109th Congress continues to debate legislation that will affect the lives of immigrants, it is important for us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.

Every country in Europe needs immigrants for its economic survival.

If you have a solution to immigration, it is possible to come home and defend it.

As you know, I'm an immigrant. I came over here as an immigrant, and what gave me the opportunities, what made me to be here today, is the open arms of Americans. I have been received. I have been adopted by America.

I believe immigration reform is a commitment of President Obama's government, especially since it gives him a chance to respond to the great demand expressed by U.S. Hispanic voters.

The Republican Party looks at massive immigration, legal and illegal, as a source of cheap labor, satisfying a very important constituency.

We could have free immigration if we did not have a welfare state. In principle I would like to see free immigration.

The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of a servile class to compete with American labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.