[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 32 (Wednesday, March 6, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H1321-H1322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           Ms. PELOSI:
       H.R. 1023.
       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

[[Page H1322]]

     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.' ''