Rick Perry Quotes

...you're never going to have a legal immigration system that works if you grant amnesty.

Hillary Clinton is only talking about families who come here in violation of the law. We will treat everyone living or residing in our country with great dignity. So important.

I supported this bill. I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and who have lived here even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.

Ted [Cruz], you support legalizing people who are in this country illegally.

I happen to believe in immigration reform but I don't believe that that means that every person who has come into America should be able to stay.

Donald Trump's against amnesty and I'm against amnesty, not that anybody should care what a consultant thinks.

It's different when you talk about immigration in the abstract... It's very different when you sit in front of a family, and [undocumented] children who grew up in this country, and who go to the same school you once went to... They thought if we only enforce the law, people will self-deport... It's not going to happen. The solution is not the status quo, or deportation when you're talking about breaking up families.

...we will not grant amnesty to illegal aliens in this Congress or, hopefully ever again. We did that once. Everybody said it was a one time deal. We were to never do it again. The problem with doing it was we reward people who violated the law. We reward people who came into the country illegally.

President [Barack] Obama has talked about fundamentally transforming this country. There's 7 billion people across the face of the globe, many of whom want to come to this country. If they come legally, great. But if they come illegally and they get amnesty, that is how we fundamentally change this country, and it really is striking.

This is a guy [Donald Trump] who has been very consistent on no amnesty, no legalization, for folks who have been coming to the country illegally.

I've made it clear in my reporting that we need a rational, effective and humane system. I don't support amnesty, and for that reason amnesty groups attack me. That's fine, it's a free country. Their attacks don't give me too much concern.

I really wish that we had passed a comprehensive immigration bill because that would've really helped our country.

I think we gotta have tough conditions. Tell people to come out of the shadows. If they’ve committed a crime deport them no questions asked. They’re gone. If they if they’ve been working and are law abiding, we should say, ‘Here are the conditions for you staying: you have to pay a stiff fine because you came here illegally, you have to pay back taxes, and you have to try to learn English, and you have to wait in line.’

Every time anybody in Washington talks about legal status, amnesty, anything of that nature, it becomes a magnet that lures people in quickly into the United States.

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.

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.

I think there's no problem getting through the House a pathway to legal status. A pathway to citizenship is going to be tougher, but I think it is potentially doable, if we can show the American people that the border is secure.

Any proposal that allows people who are here illegally to cut to the front of the line is amnesty.

I don't believe in amnesty... What I have proposed is that we would come forth with a program that allows individuals to come forward and to plead guilty... They would have to pay a fine; they would have to go through a background check - some say learn English - and they would get learned legal status.

I am working with Donald Trump to deport dangerous illegal aliens, build the wall, and end sanctuary cities.

I'm not in favor of any amnesty whatsoever.

We have 11 million people in this country that need a pathway to citizenship.

We can't go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here - who were brought here by their parents when they were small children to live in the shadows, as well... What's changed, honestly, is that there is a new appreciation on both sides of the aisle, maybe more importantly on the Republican side, that we need to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

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.

One simple rule: no amnesty, no special pathway to citizenship.