[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 26 (Thursday, February 17, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H1180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

            Mr. WAXMAN:
        H.R. 794.
        Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution provides 
     that Congress shall have power to ``establish an uniform Rule 
     of Naturalization''. The Supreme Court has long found that 
     this provision of the Constitution grants Congress plenary 
     power over immigration policy. As the Court found in Galvan 
     v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 531 (1954), ``that the formulation of 
     policies [pertaining to the entry of aliens and their right 
     to remain here] is entrusted exclusively to Congress has 
     become about as firmly imbedded in the legislative and 
     judicial tissues of our body politic as any aspect of our 
     government.'' And, as the Court found in Kleindienst v. 
     Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 766 (1972) (quoting Boutilier v. INS, 
     387 U.S. 118, 123 (1967)), ``[t]he Court without exception 
     has sustained Congress' `plenary power to make rules for the 
     admission of aliens and to exclude those who possess those 
     characteristics which Congress has forbidden.' ''