Top 70 Immigration Reform Quotes

We want to do this methodically, smart, starting with border security then looking at immigration reform measures.

I believe the House of Representatives is exactly the place where immigration reform should take place. Our entire House is elected every two years. We’re the people closest to the people.

But I can tell you another engine for growth and job creation would be comprehensive immigration reform.

Congressional opposition to immigration reform or emergency funds doesn’t stem from any philosophical objections or differences of principle. It stems from a calculated, petty, selfish rejection of anything Obama proposes.

We must pursue immigration reform – it’s something we have to do, something that starts with border security.

I… now see a rare opportunity to push across the goal line much of the unfinished business of America: investing in our infrastructure and workers, universal healthcare, comprehensive immigration reform and scrubbing a tax code that’s out of shape and behind the times.

Immigration reform is a must, an amnesty. So that’s my position. I’ve been pushing that one since before it was popular.

I ask unanimous consent that I be able to deliver a floor speech on immigration reform in Spanish.

We should put hardworking families first by voting on legislation to create jobs, raise wages, provide equal pay for women, invest in education, protect voting rights, and pass comprehensive immigration reform.

We need to decouple the movement for comprehensive immigration reform and justice for immigrants from the legislative process and from the Democratic Party process. They are too linked.

If immigration reform doesn’t happen, that doesn’t say good things about our democracy, that everybody wants it, but Congress couldn’t pass it.

We need comprehensive immigration reform. Dr. King wouldn’t be pleased at all to know that there are millions of people living in the shadow, living in fear in places like Georgia and Alabama.

In terms of immigration, we’re seeing a lot of Democrats and Republicans use the really elastic term, ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform,’ and they don’t totally understand what that means. For us in El Paso, it’s part of a larger discussion about the nature of the border.

I would argue that you’re only going to get the conservatives, particularly a Republican House, to pass immigration reform if we, as conservatives, are reassured that the border is controlled and that we get to vote on whether the border is controlled.

Laws are getting passed in states like Alabama that basically would punish American citizens who are ‘harboring’ people. Since the federal government hasn’t been able to muster or to get comprehensive immigration reform passed, states are taking it upon themselves to police and enforce laws.

We can’t get serious about immigration reform until we stop people from crossing the border illegally.

Those life experiences that helped shaped my political beliefs are with me in every position I take and every vote that I cast – whether it be in favor of comprehensive immigration reform, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, or improving our nation’s education system.

The only area that I would agree with minimum wage is in immigration reform, the guest worker program.

We need a new tax system. We need entitlement reform. We need immigration reform. These are not easy things. But it is going to take our political system working better.

In the immigration debate, some things are constant. They never change. One is that opponents of immigration reform will use it as a wedge issue and will blame everything from unemployment to rising health care costs on immigrants.

I want immigration reform to come into fruition, and I want it to be comprehensive, and I want it to have a path to citizenship, and I want to be involved politically every day.

If our focus in immigration reform is exclusively on high-skilled or STEM immigrants, where do the rest of the millions yearning to join our ranks fit in?

The question for immigration reform is not if we’ll get it done, it’s when we’ll get it done. It’s going to get done.

Immigration reform almost happened under President George W. Bush. Twice. And it was comprehensive.

There’s something in the Latino community called ‘la promesa de Obama’ – Obama’s promise. He made very specific promises to the Latino community. He committed to enacting comprehensive immigration reform within his first year.

The fact of the matter is, is that we need our borders secured. Certainly, we realize that there’s going to have to be some kind of immigration reform, but I don’t believe any of that’s going to move forward until our border is secured.

I was very heartened by Rupert Murdoch’s passionate interest in immigration reform. He is an immigrant himself. He understands from a business perspective how important immigration reform would be to our economy.

Beyond budget fights, the Obama second-term agenda was supposed to be about passing comprehensive immigration reform.

Our immigration policy should be driven by what is in the best interest of this great country and the American people. Comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen U.S. security and boost economic growth.

We deserve quality jobs that pay a living wage, lower college tuition, action on climate change, and comprehensive immigration reform.

I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants who are playing by the rules, staying out of trouble and contributing to our economy.

We know that the United States Senate has passed comprehensive immigration reform. We know it can happen. And that, to me, is what we need to do. We have a broken immigration system. And I say this because we are a country that has always opened our doors. That’s who we are.

It is in our national interest for Congress to act on immigration reform in a comprehensive manner.

While no state has more at stake in immigration policy than California, the entire nation stands to benefit from thoughtful immigration reform.

America is the only developed nation that has a 2,000-mile border with a developing nation, and the government’s refusal to control that border is why there are an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona and why the nation, sensibly insisting on first things first, resists ‘comprehensive’ immigration reform.

If Donald Trump wants to pass comprehensive immigration reform, I will work with Donald Trump.

We all want our border to be secure. However, certain individuals use this argument to stop us from ever enacting immigration reform.

We must pass immigration reform.

Comprehensive immigration reform would reduce the deficit and help grow the economy.

America draws tremendous strength from its diversity, which prompts the question, as Congress contemplates comprehensive immigration reform, why are some lawmakers aiming to curb diversity instead of promoting it?

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.

If immigration reform is bad for America’s workers, then why does virtually every group that represents American workers support it so enthusiastically?

I was a co-sponsor of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Immigration reform doesn’t impact me personally; nothing my foundation works on does. But the truth is I have a long history of ties to Latin America. Some of my best friends are in Latin America.

Sen. Robert Menendez’s Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 would try to nullify every single state and local law that fights illegal immigration. Congressman Luis Gutierrez’s CIR ASAP Act with over 100 Democratic co-sponsors does the same thing.

We desperately need comprehensive immigration reform in this nation, and yes, comprehensive immigration reform proposals are nuanced and complicated, but you know what shouldn’t be? Our capacity to see each other’s humanity.

Conservatism has always been about reforming government and solving problems, and that’s why the conservative movement should lead on immigration reform.

If immigration reform passes, it’ll be a big victory for sanity – nobody really believes it’s healthy for a country to have millions and millions of undocumented noncitizens living in the shadows. But it’ll also be a sign that the Republican Party has gotten tired of letting the Tea Party push it around.

I still passionately support comprehensive immigration reform legislation with a path to full and equal citizenship.

The future of the Republican Party, all the different folks looking to lead the Republican Party at the national level in the future, recognize we should do immigration reform.

Passing comprehensive immigration reform and making DACA and DAPA permanent will free people from living in the shadows of fear from deportation to be able to pursue higher education, buy homes, start businesses, and expand our economy and strengthen the communities of the 10th district and our nation.

As a first generation American myself, I know that comprehensive immigration reform is good for our country. I know it will reduce our deficit, grow our economy, reaffirm our values, advance our ideals, and honor our history as a nation of immigrants.