Mitch McConnell Quotes

Legislation passed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 enhanced our intelligence capabilities and strengthened our national defense, but until now our nation's immigration policies have not adapted to the needs of a post-September 11th world.

“Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States"

You can’t have open borders and win the war against terrorism at the same time.

The numbers of terrorists that we have caught coming - we actually don't catch them coming across the border. We usually catch them in some other context.

We don't want terrorists in Wyoming or anywhere else in this country. And we have got to make sure the federal government is doing its job by not allowing these folks into our states.

Britain has a Terrorism Act, which has within it a portion called Schedule 7, which is quite unique. What it is is it gives officials the ability to detain people at the border as they go in or out or even transit through the country.

In the fight against terrorism, national agencies keep full control over their police forces, security and intelligence agencies and judicial authorities.

Since the tragedies, the Department of Homeland Security was established to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, and most importantly, to share intelligence information among government agencies and departments.

In the aftermath of September 11th, it is critical to secure our borders.

You can gesture at the transnational problem of Islamist terrorism all you like, but it's just hot air unless you invest in proper security on the ground in your own country, with the right safeguards to civil liberties.

Border security and homeland security are one and the same.

Trump wants a wall between Mexico and the U.S. as well as a temporary ban on all Muslims, especially those coming from terrorist countries, among other tightened securities.

I argued that until FBI director James Comey gives a green light to new visas, and not until we completely reform the vetting process for new foreign visitors, that the borders should be sealed.

I am very supportive of Donald Trump's call to temporarily suspend immigration from countries where terrorists influence and impact represents a threat to the United States.

I argued for a wartime moratorium on new visas and new immigrants because of the substantial danger of ISIS terrorists infiltrating our system.

The nature of Homeland Security is that no news is good news. And no news sometimes means somebody got interdicted at the border, somebody got interdicted before they could get on an airplane, somebody was arrested providing material support to terrorism. Homeland Security means very often something you never hear about.

I think, in the wake of Sept. 11, it's important for the American public to understand that to the extent that there are individuals within the United States who would undertake terrorist attacks, that we are doing something to address that.

I think people all across the country want us to secure the border and make sure that terrorists are not coming into our country.

The mainstream media and most of the political establishment are too quick to slander as 'nativist' the advocacy of barring of Islamist radicals from legal entry into the United States.

Let's make the haystack smaller. Let's say for a while, until we can figure out who's coming, who's going, and who's overstayed their visa, let's have extra scrutiny and figure out what's going on, because there's a whole segment of the world that is intent on sending people here to attack us.

So now is an opportunity for us to stand up and have a good, strong immigration policy to make sure that E- Verify becomes mandatory and we have got to train and properly equip our Border Patrol.

Louis Freeh said on national TV that actionable intelligence could have allowed us to stop the hijackings.

Border security is a safety issue.

Since 2001, the Patriot Act has provided the means to detect and disrupt terrorist threats against the U.S. Prior to enactment of the law, major legal barriers prevented intelligence, national defense, and law enforcement agencies from working together and sharing information.

Decisive action has been taken on the home front with passage of the USA Patriot Act, which has strengthened the hand of law enforcement agencies to stop terrorists before they can act.