Because the truth is, today's immigrants, as they have for generation after generation, work the longest hours at the hardest jobs for the lowest pay, jobs that are just about impossible to fill.

It is so difficult to, day in and day out, hear these incredibly painful stories of the destructive nature of our broken immigration system.

I think the real, fundamental problem that the Republicans have is, 'How do we get meaner, how do we get nastier with immigrants, so that we can take a smaller group,' now apparently led by Senator Cruz - I mean, maybe he's gonna be the next Speaker of the House. Because it's quite clear that Mr. Boehner has no control over this conference.

I mean, the greatest laugh I always get is, if darkness, right, just overwhelms the Earth one day and Obama had the key to light, he says, "I have a bill that will bring sunlight," they'd rather live in darkness than have him bring the light.

So given that reality, let us not cast that all of the problems and ills of our society are somehow upon the immigrants who have come to this country.

I have traveled to Florida, I have traveled to Georgia, I have traveled to California, you and I both know that there are millions of undocumented workers that work hard, sweat soil every day to put the food we eat on our table. That's not a myth, that's a reality. Why don't we let them come with visas to this country so that then we don't have people using that border.

The next step has to be the necessary step. It's always to put the immigrant community and the civil rights movement ahead of partisan politics.