Andrew Cuomo Quotes

Cubans have no bar to being legalized once they are in America. All other Hispanics - with the exception of Puerto Ricans - have to go through a broken, dysfunctional process. One group is American from day one. And all the rest are trying to be.

After this interview, I'm going to immigration to try to sort out my Green Card, just like any other normal person.

The 1986 act didn't turn illegal immigrants into citizens on the spot. It granted temporary resident status only to those who could prove they had resided continuously in America for five years. After 18 months, their status could be upgraded to permanent residency, and only after another five years could they become U.S. citizens.

I fully recognize we need to improve the path to citizenship, just as we need to value the hard work of folks who become American citizens legally.

It took me 17 years to become a U.S. citizen.

Like all other law-abiding Americans, I fully support legal immigration.

The Democratic Party looks at massive immigration, legal and illegal, as a source of voters.

There should be a pathway to citizenship - not a special pathway and not no pathway.

Millions of us, myself included, go back generations in this country, with ancestors who put in the painstaking work to become citizens. So we don't like the notion that anyone might get a free pass to American citizenship.

I support legal immigration.

Hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship.

We can’t pretend that we are not a nation of immigrants. We always have been. It’s been our greatest strength… The majority of babies born in this country are the children of immigrants and minorities …. No other nation on earth can handle these demographics.

On immigration reform you don’t get a bill without a path to citizenship .

For those who have come here illegally, they might have a transition time to allow them to set their affairs in order. And then go back home and get in line with everybody else. And if they get in line and they apply to become a citizen and get a green card, they will be treated like everybody else.

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

I still have a Japanese passport. I haven't become an American citizen, and I am worried about getting deported every day.

Immigrants are integral to the strength of our nation. They deserve comprehensive reform that will provide a pathway to citizenship and ensure that families aren't torn apart.

The implication here is that those who came to America legally over the years are somehow second-class citizens.

Citizenship must be precious, not handed out like candy in a parade. We don't ride along and throw out citizenship like you do M&M's or Tootsie Rolls or whatever it is we're tossing out in our parades.

Immigration specifically was laid out in the Congress, giving the power of Congress to create a uniform system of naturalization.

When you come to America, you get to become an American, and Trump, who has grandparents who came to the U.S., should understand this as much as anybody.

In order to create real, long-lasting reform, we must create a pathway to legal status for the millions of undocumented immigrants who have made lives for themselves and their families in the United States.

And we'll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy!

There are so many immigrant-led success stories in the United States, and the fact that it's gotten so much harder for educated folks to stay here is really unfortunate.

If I ran for president, the first thing I'd do is legalize everyone who's been here paying taxes, working, paying taxes. Mothers and fathers of kids born in the U.S. should get a green card.