Rep. Sanchez: GOP could drag its feet on immigration

>> let me bring in congresswoman loretta sanchez . always good to see you, congresswoman, good morning.

>> good morning, chris.

>> based on that tweet we saw this morning from the white house , it looks like the president is going to back the senate plan. is this something that you could endorse, or do you think it doesn't go far enough. that it makes the path too difficult?

>> well, this issue is always in the details, what do they mean by that? and you know, this is a marathon. it's not going to be a short sprint to try to get this done. it's going to require that we bring in the house members also. i want to say that a majority of the democrats have wanted this for a long time. we're ready to go. the very few democrat s who have been uneasy about it have been those who still believe that their constituents, that the people that they represent, may not be very happy or may not understand this. but the majority of democrats in the house really want to get this done, we want to get it done sooner rather than later. we want to bring house republicans along. that's why, i believe, the senate went first. and so it really is about the details.

>> so you're not worried so much about your republican colleagues? are you worried about your republican colleagues in the house?

>> well, yes, of course. we have seen in things over and over , whether it's the debt ceiling or sequestration or what have you, that they have dragged their feet. that they have had a particular group of people within their own conference that has pulled back from making deals. so, you know, people continue to say that this is a political issue. it's not really a applyipolitical issue. it's the right thing for america. and i think a majority of americans have come to realize that from a family values standpoint, we need to keep our families united, those who have been working in our community for a long time. for me, from a homeland security perspective, sitting on the homeland security committee , i would rather have these people be taken care of, understand who they are, be in line, have visas and allow people to come to this country to work if we need more workers. and really concentration my homeland security resources on those people who really mean to do us harm.

>> well, you do know that one of the proposals here, and it relates to homeland security , is that this should be tied to stricter border security , although -- well, let me play for you first what your colleague, marshall blackburn had to say about that.

>> item number one has to be a secure border. the american people are sick of what they're hearing about human trafficking , sex trafficking , drug trafficking , weapons trafficking . let's end illegal entry into this country, regardless of what that entry is.

>> congressman, john mccain also reiterated this morning, that he felt that the administration had not done a good job with border security , and that's why it was important that these were tied together. do you agree with that?

>> well, i have actually sat on the homeland security committee and chaired the border security subcommittee. and i would say that both of these, especially miss blackburn, she doesn't sit on that committee. she hasn't really taken a look at what we've done. i'll give you an example. in just the last seven years, we've increased our border patrol from about 5,000 people to about 22,000 people. the majority of those people sit on the southern border. but the reality is that terrorists have come across the northern border. that's where we stop them. like the millennium bomber , who wanted to come to my area and bomb l.a.x. so we have to -- if we have to hire more border patrol , as mr. mccain, in that group of eight has said, then, you know, we need to worry about the northern border. we need to worry about our coastline. that's really what i'm worried about when i look at homeland security . with respect to deporting people who have been here, who have been criminals, there has been nobody more strident about that than president obama . in fact, really upsetting many of the immigrant communities, not just the hispanic community, but many of the immigrant communities, because he has been so steadfast in making sure that people were deported. he has pushed very hard, back on employers, who knowingly employed people who don't have the correct documents. so he has been on the forefront. he has been listening to what we have said on the homeland security committee . is there more we can do? yes, there is. but we will never, we will never have a fence, especially with all the coastline that we have, maine and florida and puerto rico and hawaii and the virginia islands and the coast of california -- we will never have -- we will never have enough border security . and that's one of the reasons why we shouldn't really tie that to these families who want to be here, who have been here. they're pta moms, they volunteer in the classroom for not just their child, but all children in that classroom.

>> congresswoman, i have to let that be the last word.

>> they have been part of our american fabric.

>> it is always good to have you on the program. congresswoman loretta sanchez , thank you