Washington, DC – At an afternoon news conference, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) delivered remarks about the latest developments in the immigration reform debate. 

The following is a transcript of Senator Feinstein’s remarks at today’s news conference:

“There are certain core principles in this bill that those people that participated in putting it together care about. 

Those core principles are formed on this basis: Republicans can not pass a bill without Democrats, and Democrats can not pass a bill without Republicans.  Therefore the only hope for a bill is to come together.  And that’s what we have done. 

Some of us have had to swallow things that we may not want or wish to be another way, for a bill – the first three titles of which are all enforcement.  Triggers, border infrastructure, interior enforcement, border enforcement. 

In exchange for a path for legalization for those people who are in this country working legitimately.  Good citizens without citizenship.  To be able to be legal people in our country, with a future out of the shadows

And that has taken some compromises to achieve. We have a stable and consistent workforce in this bill for agriculture.  And as been said, we have hope for those children of immigrant parents who want to get a higher education in the DREAM Act. 

I think what we have to do in the remaining days is to keep these core principles in mind.  Because it’s easy for this coalition to become frayed.  And I really hope it doesn’t. 

The more I go into this from a California perspective, the more I see how valuable this can be.  The kind of hope it can bring to people, the kind of remedy it can bring to broken borders. 

And so I hope we keep the big picture in mind as these days go on, and the votes are taken over amendments.  And most importantly, I hope that this bipartisan group stays together.”

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