Ayanna Pressley Quotes

I think people want immigration reform. I think people want to see a path for citizenship. I don't think we as a country want to discuss this in the way we do. I don't think we want to separate families. I don't think that's part of our values.

If we value children and family, there's a great need for change, and we should try immigration reform - create a path for citizenship for people already here, update the visa system.

Washington, D.C. is what is broken, not the immigration policies. We have good laws. We have people suffer every day because of government's failure to enforce the law and be respectful to the process we have. We have a pathway to citizenship already in place.

Whether we start with a provisional status and legal permanent residence... or we set up some other way to assimilate legally, you can't ever put in something that says, 'You can never become a citizen.' That's un-American.

I will continue to stand strongly with my fellow House Democrats, with immigration reform advocates and with millions of hard-working, law-abiding families who want simply to remain together and contribute to our great country.

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.

Our immigration system is a broken system that needs to be fixed. We need reform that provides hardworking people of good character with a real path towards citizenship.

No American should be forced to choose between their spouse and their country.

I challenge the Republican nominees and all Republicans to not just be the anti-illegal immigration party. That's not who we are and that's not who we should be we should be the pro-legal immigration party.

We must do everything in our power to keep families together, and to use common sense in our immigration laws. Children deserve better than to lose a parent because of an inflexible law.

I'm for the DREAM Act. It makes so much sense. Following the implementation of the DREAM Act, we'll have a case study we can point to where we can say that we provided a path to citizenship or legal involvement in the community for these young immigrants, and the sky didn't fall.

We don't want two-tier people in America. Those who are legal but not citizens, and citizens.

For the undocumented immigrants, the big priority is just to get out from the shadows, be able to get a driver's license, buy an airplane ticket and stop worrying about sudden deportation. But for the country as a whole, it's crucial that everybody have a citizen's stake in the nation's welfare.

Create legal immigration channels that are wide enough and efficient enough that people choose to go through our system, not around it, We should have an orderly system in which families can stick together, people have rights, rules are enforced, and employers don’t cheat to undercut their competition.

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

Women bear the brunt of the broken immigration system and they are tired of seeing their families torn apart and the country that they love being less than it should be.

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

In the past, I have been an immigration reformer, not a restrictionist.

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

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.

We need comprehensive immigration reform. Dr. King wouldn't be pleased at all to know that there are millions of people living in the shadow, living in fear in places like Georgia and Alabama.

I support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants who are playing by the rules, staying out of trouble and contributing to our economy.

We need to have comprehensive immigration reform and that means there should be a path for citizenship. And certainly I support the DREAM Act to help all of these young people who were brought here.

Our friends, neighbors, and their families have been forced to live in the shadows out of fear of being torn from their families and deported from what is, for many of them, the only country they have ever known.

We need comprehensive immigration reform so that we're not creating this cycle of poverty and depression and everything that comes with separating a family.