But at some point in time those forces that drew us together are forces which are not going to go away. We have to continue to figure out a way to fix our broken borders. We have to have the courage to stand up and ensure that fix of a broken immigration system. What we have to do is have the courage to say we are going to do something that is moral and just and humane with the 12 million undocumented workers who have toiled in our hotel rooms. in our fields. who work at construction sites. who work as chicken pluckers. as my good friend said in South Carolina. who work in those kinds of conditions every day. So I leave the end of this day with a sense of hopefulness. a sense of optimism. and with a sense that these inescapable forces that impel us forward will now not allow us to fail. We will get this job done. As we get this job done. it is also important to reflect on the fact that there have been many people who have gotten us to the point where we are today. There is a lot of work that has gone on on this issue of immigration. As Senator REID. and I. and others have spoken about this issue of immigration. we have reminded people that since 9/11 there have been 36 hearings on the issue of immigration. There have been 6 days of committee markup. There have been 59 committee amendments. There have been now probably 25 days of this Senate debating the issue of immigration. And during that course. there have been almost 100 Senate floor amendments that we have voted on as we have moved forward with immigration reform. We will get there. But through that whole effort. there have been some tremendous people who have been profiles in courage.
Keywords matched
immigration undocumented