US Immigration Policy Quotes

I think we gotta have tough conditions. Tell people to come out of the shadows. If they’ve committed a crime deport them no questions asked. They’re gone. If they if they’ve been working and are law abiding, we should say, ‘Here are the conditions for you staying: you have to pay a stiff fine because you came here illegally, you have to pay back taxes, and you have to try to learn English, and you have to wait in line.’

What has changed immensely in America since 2017, the first year of the Trump administration, is the relentless demonization of nonwhite immigrants, economic migrants and asylum seekers from the highest levels of institutional authority.

In 1995, the Clinton Administration reached an agreement with Cuban government that any refugee caught at sea would be sent back to Cuba while any refugee who reaches the United States shores would be allowed to begin the process to citizenship after one year.

How would the US be different today if people coming off the boat were greeted with a welfare check instead of a shovel?

Unfortunately for the United States most of these immigrants are not so desirable as those of ten years ago.

How about 'anvil babies' - because that is what anchor babies are around the necks of the American taxpayer.

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.

Illinois is home to a disproportionate share of Dreamers and would suffer a significant economic blow should they be compelled to leave.

Hillary Clinton has pledged to keep both of these illegal amnesty programs, including the 2014 amnesty which has been blocked by the United States Supreme Court. Great.

I believe that the Cuban Adjustment Act must be re-examined.

There was a really monstrous and almost literal genocide in the Mayan area, specifically under Ríos Montt. By now it has been recognized somewhat by Guatemalan society. In fact, Montt was under trial for some crimes. But the U.S. prohibits people from fleeing here.

The United States has been an immigrant country. The Hispanics who come here are largely from Mexico and South America. They are Catholics, but that is an American religion. One-third of our population is Catholic so that does not have the same impact as Muslims coming into Europe.

It is one of the great acts of American generosity and charity, what we are doing for these unaccompanied kids who are smuggled into our country or come across illegally.

DACA is a lifeline for individuals who have grown up in the U.S. but who lack immigration papers.

Of all the questions I get asked as an undocumented immigrant in the United States, there are two - asked in various permutations via email, social media or in person - that chill me to the bone: 'Why don't you just make yourself legal?' And: 'Why don't you get in the back of the line?'

Mostly this problem is contained in the fact that the US makes it so difficult for Canadians to get green cards (you heard it here), but if an American orchestra really wants a player, they have their ways.

After the separation of children from families seeking to join the United States was embraced as the official policy of our government, we should ask ourselves what story we will tell. President Trump's story is one of cruelty - that we may do something unfathomable to deter families from coming to America.

But the other audience, I think, is people in Central America because since last summer, they've been running ads down there - the United States government has - don't come, it's dangerous. You will be immediately deported. That's literally what it says in Spanish.

I'm very pleased when the smartest people come [to the U.S.] and almost never pleased when the very bottom of the mental barrel comes in.

From 1924 to 1965, 41 years, essentially, there was no immigration. Try telling people that in the midst of this debate and they won't believe you. They'll think you're making it up. They'll think you're lying about it.

Cuban Americans have little in common with immigrants from Mexico and Central America, and often their priorities don't align. If it seems like Cuban Americans don't have to play by the same rules as everyone else, that's probably because they don't.