[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 161 (Wednesday, December 8, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H8093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               DREAM ACT

  (Mr. OLVER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, this coming spring, tens of thousands of 
young people will graduate from high school, many of them at the very 
top of their class, only to discover that they have no hope of pursuing 
their goals because they were brought here illegally.
  The DREAM Act will allow these young people the opportunity to pursue 
a pathway to citizenship while contributing to our country through 
higher education or military service, young people like Marissa, an 
honors student from my district.
  Marissa was brought here as a young child from Uruguay and grew up 
considering herself as American as her classmates. Her English is as 
good as yours and mine. She excelled in school. Her dream was going to 
college and becoming a physician, but that dream was crushed when her 
parents sat her down and told her that her family is in the United 
States illegally.
  America deserves to have the best and brightest young people like 
Marissa studying in our universities and defending our Nation. And 
these students deserve the chance to earn citizenship in the country 
that is the only homeland they know. It is the moral thing to do, and 
it's the fair thing to do.
  I urge my colleagues to support the DREAM Act.

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