Marco Rubio Quotes

We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.

I try and make it to the word exactly what I said four years ago and what I said was that those who've come here illegally should not be given a special pathway, a favored pathway to become permanent residents merely by virtue of having come here illegally. That they should be in line with everybody - they should be given the opportunity to get in line with everybody else but they go to the back of the line.

Under President Obama, we saw an unwarranted extension of amnesty programs which neglected the root of the illegal immigration crisis. We saw a troubling lack of urgency in addressing the sanctuary cities which subvert the rule of law.

Even people who have successfully obtained a visa are sometimes being turned back at the airport. Such incidents have never happened in the past but are increasing now because even low level officers of the border patrol department are being entrusted with too much discretion power on how they execute the laws.

The hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who have unlawfully crossed our border are posing a significant threat to the government's ability to effectively enforce our nation's immigration laws.

We are a nation of laws and we must enforce our immigration laws.

My decision has been that anyone who breaks the law will be prosecuted. If you're a parent or you're a single person or you happen to have a family, if you cross between the ports of entry, we will refer you for prosecution. You've broken U.S. law.

We have got to secure the border and enforce existing immigration laws.

Even if we were able to agree on an ideal set of immigration laws, enforcing such laws in the face of hundreds of thousands of cases is impossible in practice.

As far as a wall is concerned, the experts actually say that in some places a wall is necessary, in other places a double wall is necessary, and in other places that a wall wouldn't help. So I'm for whatever it takes to secure our border with Mexico. We've got to do it. I'm for then enforcing our laws.

As we leave the E.U., freedom of movement falls away, because it's an E.U. rule... What we then have to say is, 'What then is on the blank piece of paper that is an immigration policy?'

We must enforce the laws we have on the books, secure our borders, and deny special benefits to illegal immigrants such as in-state tuition rates. This approach is best for American citizens and is fair to those who have taken the time and effort to go through the legal immigration process.

If we can find a way to enforce our laws and keep people from coming into our country illegally while maintaining a strong legal immigration system, I think that's going to benefit everyone. If you come here illegally, and you commit a crime, you're not going to be able to stay in our country.

I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation's security, and to restore respect for our laws.

I do believe that if you continually go through a cycle of amnesty, that you undermine the respect for the law and encourage more illegal immigration into America.

We have to deal with reality. The reality is, we have a number a very high number of illegal immigrants in this country. They're meeting an important economic need. And we are a nation of laws, and we're a nation of immigrants. And if we're going to address the real threats, then we need to have a temporary worker program to allow our Border Patrol agents to focus on the criminals and the thugs and the terrorists and the traffickers and smugglers that are trying to come into this country illegally.

I don't think you get that ask unless you first enforce the law, and demonstrate you secured the border. And still whatever this does to our hearts, and it tugs on mine, too, but the most important thing is to restore the respect for the rule of law.

Let's be honest, if the Democrats didn't support ignoring our nation's immigration laws, there is no way they could win the presidency or a local dog catcher election.

That is why immigration limits are established in the first place. If we only enforced the laws against crime, then we have an open border to the entire world. We will enforce all of our immigration laws.

[Illegal immigration] costs the taxpayers of the United States a lot of money. And it's unfair to Americans who are working every day to pay their own bills. It's also unfair to a lot of people who have waited in line for years and years in other countries to be legal immigrants.

I want to be very clear - there will be no path to legalization.

What does have a chance of becoming law is a process that begins with securing the border. Currently the border is not secure and not just immigrants are coming across, but also drugs, weapons a whole series of problems. And I think that if you can prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control, I think that the American people are willing to do something very reasonable about people who have been here for many years, who are not criminals, who are going to pay a fine, who are going to pay taxes, who are working.

Donald Trump's laid out a plan to end illegal immigration once and for all in America. We've been talking it to death for 20 years. Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine want to continue the policies of open borders, amnesty, catch and release, sanctuary cities, all the things that are driving wages down in this country.

By finally enforcing our immigration laws, we will raise wages, help the unemployed, save billions and billions of dollars, and make our communities safer for everyone.

We are going to enforce the law of America and strengthen immigration and customs enforcement with more resources and personnel to be able to do that, and then Donald Trump has made it clear. Once we have done all of those things, then we are going to reform the immigration system that we have in this country.