Kirstjen Nielsen Quotes

The other thing I like, in fact, several months ago I introduced a bill to end the absurd catch and release policy where our government has been giving tickets, essentially, to people who enter illegally and then letting them go and show up of their own volition.

No nation can have the policy that whole classes of people are immune from immigration law or enforcement. It was a simple decision by the administration to have a zero tolerance policy for illegal entry, period. The message is that no one is exempt from immigration law.

Immigration customs enforcement is a role that makes sense. We have to have something that is doing that.

Amnesty is a terrible policy, and it's terrible politics. It's a terrible policy because you are rewarding people for breaking the law.

When a law enforcement officer apprehends an illegal immigrant, it makes no sense to simply release that individual who has been breaking our laws with no threat of sanction or penalty.

I will not support amnesty for anybody, I mean, that would be rewarding bad behavior.

The Federal Government does not control our borders as the law requires …. I haven’t received a response saying that the check is in the mail….When people illegally cross our borders that the Federal Government is supposed to control, the Federal Government should pick up the tab.

I don't want to take away deferred status from anyone who has it, but I also didn't want to send the message that it is OK to come here illegally.

The best advice I have is, actually present yourself at a legal border crossing and make your case. Cross illegally and get arrested, and your children will be given to us. That's the simple fact, I'm afraid.

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

While this country has always had a generous immigration policy, we simply cannot condone individuals coming here illegally.

I think we should be pushing for amnesty and a path to citizenship for every undocumented person residing in the United States who has not committed a violent crime, with a special emphasis on keeping families together.

You can't undo a deportation.

Foreign nationals entering the United States illegally who are taken into custody by the Border Protection Corps or by State or local law enforcement authorities must be promptly delivered to a federal law enforcement authority.

The Constitution of the United States... specifically states the Congress shall write legislation for immigration policy in the United States.

Mexicans are quasi-legal.

I have the utmost respect for those who have come to this country legally and have contributed to the great melting pot that is America today. But those who have crossed our borders illegally have broken the law and the law ought to be enforced.

We must send a very clear message that if you enter our country illegally and then you commit one of these offenses, you will be dealt with harshly and you will pay a heavy price for your conduct.

Well, I think we need to have attrition by enforcement. We need to secure our borders. We need to enforce our laws.

If someone comes here illegally, we owe them absolutely nothing.

The simple answer to the illegal alien problem is to secure our boarders and enforce the law.

The policy is anyone who's here illegally is here illegally, does not have the right to be here. We'll decide whether it's in our interest to let them stay or not. Perhaps it is in our interest to let some of them stay.

We must make clear that if you come here illegally, you will be sent back home.

Immigration policy is a complicated issue. Or perhaps one should say immigration policies are complicated, since we have many different immigration laws and practices which interact in complex ways.

No migrant of any religion has a constitutional right to come to the United States.