[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 56 (Tuesday, April 23, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H2169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PUT AMERICANS' SAFETY FIRST

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, our hearts are heavy because of the 
Boston bombings that killed and maimed so many.
  We need to wait for all the facts before deciding how the terrorist 
attack impacts immigration policy. But this much I hope we can agree 
on: the safety of the American people must come first.
  At the least, we should secure our border and bolster interior 
enforcement before we legalize millions of illegal immigrants in the 
U.S. To give amnesty to millions without knowing whether some of them 
want to do us harm is to jeopardize American lives.
  We should go slow before making any changes to immigration policy 
that don't put the interests of Americans first. We owe that to both 
the victims and the survivors.

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