Former DHS Chief Tells Critics Of Immigration Reform To "Get Over It," Warns Against Being "Arrogant"

By Mike Levine
Created 2011-03-01 15:01

The nation's first homeland security secretary said Tuesday that critics of immigration reform need to "get over it," and warned that Americans shouldn't be so "arrogant" as to believe that "everybody that comes across the border wants to be an American citizen."

Speaking at Georgetown University to celebrate the eight anniversary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, former secretary Tom Ridge said he hopes "sometime in the future" the U.S. government takes a serious look at immigration policy "in general," even though “it's the third rail of contemporary politics right now."

"At some point in time you've got to say to yourself, 'We're not sending 12 million people home,'â€