Tamar Jacoby Quotations

What the public wants, and what Congress will focus on, is getting control of our border.

When you combine this speech with the raids of last week and the talk in the Senate of adding enforcement money to the supplemental, they're saying you can enforce the border and have a guest worker program at the same time, in tandem.

I have concerns about whether it will be workable.

Bush is saying something that can be hard to explain. He's saying the way to control immigration and rationalize the system isn't to crack down harder but to open up the channels for more immigrants.

Is comprehensive reform a slam-dunk in Congress? Obviously not. This is a hard battle, but it makes a lot of difference to have the president with us instead of against us.

Some people are going to say it's amnesty, and others are going to say it creates a second-class caste of workers. It's a non-starter for both sides.

We need these workers to do jobs that americans aren't interested in doing anymore, and and right now, only two-thirds can come legally and the rest are coming illegally, and that illegality is really bothering the american people.

You have the classic standoff between the main street constituency and the business side of the party. In that case, the members tend to go where the voters are.

Voters can tell the difference between people who are grandstanding and those who are trying to solve problems.

The debate will be intense and emotional and the senators to watch are the Republican reformers, especially Chairman Specter.

We're trying to replace a nudge-nudge, wink-wink system of unrealistic laws that don't get enforced with realistic laws that can be enforced.

When people live as marginalized temporary workers they act like marginalized temporary workers. When they get residency, they invest in themselves, get educated and learn English.

When people live as marginalized temporary workers, they act like marginalized temporary workers. When they get residency, they invest in themselves, get educated and learn English.

To call the system inadequate doesn't even come close to it,

The president made clear that the most effective thing he could do in the short term is to make the case to the country.

The president is hanging back and letting the Senate do the work. But if they can bring back a comprehensive bill that he can say with a straight face is not amnesty, that's something he can get behind.

Farming, construction, food processing, those businesses can't stay afloat without those workers.

The tough-talking swagger of the kind we're hearing from people in Congress who want enforcement only is not a political winner. It won't solve problems, and it won't win votes.

Sooner or later we all will have to face the fact that most of the 11 million are here to stay, and it is in our interest as much as theirs to find a way for them to do so legally. There is simply no practical alternative. The only real question before us is how to structure the transition.

This deal makes moral sense. We should treat people who put down roots in a community differently than we treat the recently arrived.

They feel, and I think they are right, that they are going to have their best leverage in conference.

They're screaming out. They're fed up and they've discovered creative ways to go about venting their frustration.

There's always this sense among Republicans that 'sealing the border' will be a winner. But it never works. There's probably about 15 percent of the Republican base that are adamant about the issue and will vote on it.

It's going to cost billions and take five to 10 years. But do we want to get a grip on this or not? I think we do.

It's not a question of 'can we fix this?' It's 'when and how?'

The bishops getting involved reminds people of the whole picture. The church goes beyond the illegality and economic concerns to bring in morality concerns.

It's an exciting time. But it's going to be one hell of a food fight.

It turns out some of those devilish details are giving people trouble now. And what looked like such a promising thing last week ... is turning out to be tough work.

They are watching very carefully what's going on in Congress and I think they are prepared to encourage the right kind of program ... as it comes out of Congress. He understands he's going to have a big role to play in persuading the public that whatever the answer is, it isn't an amnesty.

Their political judgment is that weighing in on the specifics is not the most effective strategy for them.

In spirit, the whole idea of the reform is for people like David Mendez, who are in essence hard-working Americans with roots in this country, so they can get on the right side of the law.

How do you solve the problem of illegal immigration without addressing the 11 million already here?

For the most part these are hard working, family-oriented people who want to become Americans we should find a way for them to earn their way onto the right side of the law.

This is a huge, huge thing he did. He is the person who had the guts to say we had to have a compromise. He gets the credit for the compromise.

The chamber went all-out saying this really matters to us.

This is like the gun you shoot at the beginning of the race or the bell that you ring at the beginning of a classroom discussion, .. This is the president saying, 'OK, we're going to get serious about this now. Congress is going to work on it. I'm going to put my political capital behind it.' .

Once upon a time, there was a clear set of choices that people made. Now there are so many choices of how to think, how to define ourselves.