Doris Meissner Quotations

Where others might have faltered, you rose to the occasion, ... This is not just my opinion, which I admit is biased. This is a view that is shared throughout INS and by your peers in other law enforcement agencies, far and wide, here and abroad. They have described Operation Reunion as a textbook example of operations preparation and execution. It also proved to be the pivotal step in closing one of the most difficult chapters in the history of INS work.

She spoke on various sides of the issue, ... She spoke about how deeply she cared for the child, how much she did not want there to be a forcible transfer, but she also spoke about how she would never part with him, about how the family would never allow the transfer to take place under the conditions that were required. There were many contradictory statements.

found the family functioning very well as a family.

What you have here, with illegal immigration, it's an issue in the economy. It's an issue where immigration law is out of date, an expression of a different era than the one we're living in.

What we have now is the worst of all worlds. We have the market totally in charge. It's not only a recipe for worker exploitation and depressing the wages of Americans. It's also against all of our notions of the rule of law, and basic democratic principles.

have basically used the legal migration system to their advantage.

The arguments for better immigration enforcement and controls are perfectly legitimate, and obviously the system as it's operating is now is badly broken, ... but by and large, anti-terrorism is a different endeavor.

Today this border is harder to cross than any time in history,

Whether it is guest workers or other forms of broadening immigration for our labor-force needs, ... that debate is starting to unfold and it is a debate that we need to have.

Today's ceremony has been characterized by some as a 'victory party',

The real objective here is to deter that kind of migration, ... The best way to deter is to be ready for it, so it is very clear that we will not find ourselves overwhelmed.

This was evidenced when I went to Andrews Air Force Base just hours after the operation and saw a safe Elian with his arms wrapped tightly around the neck of his beaming father emerge from the airplane on which he had flown from Miami to Washington,

The smugglers are trying to relocate their operations there, ... They simply can't cross anymore in the San Diego area, so it's time to respond in El Centro and push back the smuggling traffic.

So we have now a situation where we're in a different demographic.

That told us we had to be prepared for anything.

The mistake (in 1986) was being blind to the need for a continuing flow of workers into the economy.

They need more space and they need more privacy.

This little boy, who has been through so much, belongs with his father.

That is not an option I'm prepared to entertain, ... There is no place for an arbitration panel.

It is the right decision legally and it is the right decision morally.

It was my firm conviction, then and now, that we did the right thing on April 22, and we are doing it again today,

The father made it very clear that he wants Elian returned to him as soon as possible,

I really do think that this is probably a longer debate than simply this Congress. The critical step right now is to have a credible alternative on the table so that it can be a productive debate.