Congressional Record, Volume 159 Issue 58 (Thursday, April 25, 2013)

[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 58 (Thursday, April 25, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2343-H2345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

IMMIGRATION REFORM

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from California
(Mr. Vargas) for 30 minutes.
Mr. VARGAS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on our Nation's need
for comprehensive immigration reform. I did want to, however,
congratulate my friend, Marlin Stutzman, and his family. What a
beautiful family. And it was a delight looking over and seeing both
boys. What a terrific family.
I come today, though, to thank, really, the faith community in this
country that has come together around comprehensive immigration reform.
It's been interesting to see how, literally, every denomination, every
faith group, has come together and said that we must have comprehensive
immigration reform because of the values that they have, as religious
people and religious groups, but also, more importantly, the religious
values that we share as Americans.
So I want to thank all of the groups that have been praying for us,
that have come to the Capitol to speak to us, to say, open up your
hearts, open up your minds and take a look at the stranger among you.
I would like to read a letter that I received yesterday that, I
think, puts it into context, certainly in the Judeo-Christian context,
and that was a letter that I received from Rabbi Ron Stern from the
Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, California.
He wrote this:

Among the fundamental stories of the Jewish people is the
classic telling of the experience of slavery in Egypt.
The story is not only told each year during the Passover
Seder held by Jews around the world but it is also referenced
repeatedly as the rationale for many Jewish ethical
principles.
The tradition teaches us that we must always remember that
we were strangers in a strange land, that we were powerless
immigrants with no choice but to rely upon the grace and
mercy of others who not only had power over our subsistence,
but sometimes over our lives.
The truth of the Exodus story for the Jewish people is
eternal because we have often been wanderers in lands that
were not our own.
Subsequent to the Exodus story, the first encounter with
the landless powerlessness occurred nearly 2,500 years ago in
the land of Babylonia.
It was there that we also learned the strength that comes
when a people exits the shadows and is able to take its place
in the light of the Nation's destiny. A vibrant Jewish
community thrived there for thousands of years as citizens of
a Persian nation.
Elsewhere in the world over the centuries Jews encountered
wandering, rootlessness and powerlessness in Europe, Russia
and Northern Africa. With each move, we endured the
insecurity of foreigners never fully welcomed in a land that
benefited from our labor and our skills.
The all too infrequent eras of stability, security and
peace were welcomed isles of harmony that allowed our people
to prosper.
Because of our history, because of our collective memory of
wandering and existing as immigrants in lands that were not
our own from birth, because we were wanderers who traveled to
nations looking for better fortunes and left nations where
fortune and safety eluded, the Jewish people have a mission
to extend compassion and embrace to others who seek the very
security that we often sought for ourselves.
Now that we have found peace, comfort, stability and
strength in this great country, we demand nothing less than
that for others who seek these essential components of life
for themselves and for their families.
Eleven million immigrants have cared for our children,
attended our schools, worked in our factories, fought our
wars, frequented our businesses, and made our way of life
possible.
The time is now for those who have become a part of our
American fabric through the sweat of their hands to be given
the place in our society that we cherish for ourselves as
well: citizens of the United States of America.
Sincerely, Rabbi Ron Stern.

I want to thank Rabbi Stern. I think that he, along with so many
others, have really set the stage for something that I think is not
only overdue but that we're going to do, and that is, we're going to
look into our hearts, and we're going to see that the stranger among us
is not so strange.
It was interesting that the rabbi mentioned fought our wars. For
those of us that have been working with immigrants, I think probably
the saddest things, the saddest occurrences that we've encountered are
these, when military men and women have spouses who are undocumented.

{time} 1710

A good example is a story I gave before, and I'll give it again, it
was so compelling.
Here in the Capitol, on the Senate side, we heard testimony from an
Army soldier who had, unfortunately, been injured. He came home and his
wife is taking care of him and his young family. And what he's had to
do is line the car windows and all over the car with stickers that say,
``Injured Soldier,''

[[Page H2344]]

``Go Army,'' and all sorts of other stickers that show that he is
someone that went and fought for us overseas. And the reason he does
this, he says, is because he doesn't want to get pulled over for some
small traffic violation because his wife is the only one that's able to
drive, and she could be deported because she's undocumented.
And probably even more compelling, we had, afterwards, a member of
the Marines come forward and say, tragically, that he is fearful when
he is sent overseas, but not of dying, interestingly. He said that he
served two tours of duty in Iraq. He said that he was scared the whole
time he was there, but not of what I thought. He said, You wouldn't
guess. He said, I'm going back now to Afghanistan, and I have the same
fear. And you know what his fear is? His fear is not of dying.
Interestingly and starkly, he said, That's what Marines do. We fight
and we die. I'm not afraid of that. I'm afraid that my wife will get
deported because she's undocumented. I'm afraid that my wife will get
deported. That's what his fear is, that his wife may be deported.
He says, What then will happen to not only my wife but my children?
I'm off in Afghanistan doing what I think is right, defending our
country, defending our liberty, and at the same time my wife could get
deported to a nation she doesn't really even know anymore. She came as
a child. She came from Mexico. How is that fair?
And I can tell him, Of course, that's not fair. But I think that more
and more of us are hearing these stories. And I thank him for his
bravery to come forward because it does, in fact, put his family in
peril because she could get deported. But I thank him and I thank the
other brave members of the military that have come forward and given us
their stories. I've heard from many now.
Now I would like to take a moment to share with you a letter written
by the Evangelical Immigration Table to us here in the United States
Congress.
They wrote:

Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi,
Congratulations to you and your campaign teams on your
election victories.
Our Nation faces many great challenges and opportunities.
We pray that God will lead and guide your steps and provide
you with the wisdom during the years ahead. As evangelical
leaders, we live every day with the reality that our
immigration system doesn't reflect our commitment to the
values of human dignity, family unity, and respect for the
rule of law that define us as Americans.
Initiatives by both parties to advance commonsense fixes to
our immigration policies have stalled in the years past. With
your leadership, this can change. In the next Congress,
Republicans and Democrats need to come together to pass and
implement a national immigration strategy that addresses our
Nation's broken immigration system. We commit to supporting
you. We are already working across the country to educate and
mobilize our fellow evangelical Christians to support just
immigration laws. Support for reform is growing in our
churches, denominations, campuses, and communities.

As an aside, it is. And we see it here at the Capitol. We see more
and more church groups and pastors coming and speaking to us, and
speaking to us in a very united way and a very compassionate way and a
very values-filled way, saying that we have to do something. And I
thank them again for that.
They go on:

We stand ready to support legislation that reflects our
Christian values and builds the common good. We are driven by
moral obligation rooted deeply in our faith to address the
needs of immigrants in our country. Compassionate and just
treatment of immigrants is a frequent topic in the Scripture.
The Hebrew word for immigrant, ``ger'', occurs 92 times
throughout the Bible.
We respectfully request that you meet personally with
leadership from the Evangelical Immigration Table in the
first 92 days of the next Congress to discuss bipartisan
immigration reform legislation that:
One, guarantees secure national borders;
Two, respects the God-given dignity of every person;
Three, ensures fairness to taxpayers;
Four, protects the unity of the immediate family;
Five, establishes a path toward legal status and/or
citizenship for those who qualify and those who wish to
become permanent residents;
Six, respects the rule of law.
These principles are endorsed by the signers of this letter
and by more than 150 other prominent evangelical leaders from
around the Nation. The principles reflect a growing
convergence with the position of other religious, civic,
business, labor, and law enforcement leaders.
We urge you to reach across the aisle and to work to create
a bipartisan solution that reflects our values, creates just
and humane immigration laws, and moves us forward together.

The letter was signed by Leith Anderson, President, National
Association of Evangelicals; Stephan Bauman President and CEO, World
Relief; David Beckmann, President, Bread for the World; Noel
Castellanos, CEO, Christian Development Community Association; Robert
Gittelson, President, Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration
Reform; Richard Land, President, Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention; Samuel Rodriguez,
President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Gabriel
Salguero, President, National Latino Evangelical Coalition; Richard
Stearns, President, World Vision United States; and Jim Wallis,
President and CEO of Sojourners.
So why have all of these evangelical leaders and why have so many
other faith groups come together and said with a unified voice that we
have to have comprehensive immigration reform? Well, as they say, the
reason is because of their values. Because they believe in the Bible
and they believe that the stranger among us must be treated as
ourselves. In fact, interestingly, some of them quote Leviticus.

In Leviticus, of course, it says that you shall love the alien, the
stranger, as you love yourselves, because you have to remember that you
once were strangers, too, in the land of Egypt.
And so I thank all of these religious leaders, all of these faith
communities that have come together. Interestingly, I can't recall
another time when you've had so many different religious faith groups,
pastors, reverends, and rabbis come together with one voice and say,
This is the path forward; we all agree. But we have it here.
The nice thing about it is that I think we are getting to a point
where we are going to agree that we have to have a comprehensive
immigration package that reflects the values that they have spoken to,
the values that we hold dear as Americans, and I think that we are
going to get there. And I thank each and every one of them that prays
for us because I am a person of faith. I do believe that prayers work.
I can feel their fervent prayers here. We can all hear them here. It's
a wonderful thing.
I do want to read a few more letters and a few more quotes from these
same evangelical leaders because I think it's important to get a feel
for how unanimous they are that we have to have comprehensive
immigration reform that really reflects our best values, our better
angels. So here's a press release from the evangelical leaders to
amplify the call for bipartisan immigration reform with radio ads in
key States.

{time} 1720

Dr. Richard Land, president, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
of the Southern Baptist Convention:

Evangelical Christians who listen to Christian radio tend
to be well educated in the Scriptures and politically
engaged. Reaching them with this message about God's heart
for immigrants and the importance of immigration solutions
rooted in Biblical values will be absolutely critical for
building the political will we need to pass meaningful
reforms in 2013.
Our political leaders need to hear from our constituents
and from their constituents and know that evangelical
Christians are strongly behind them if they have the moral
courage to act on the values we see in Matthew 25 and other
places in the Scripture concerning welcoming the stranger.

I thank Dr. Richard Land. When he says that he hopes that we hear
from our constituents, we are hearing from them. In fact, we're also
hearing from Dr. Richard Land and other leaders in the evangelical
churches that have come here to say, if you have any distrust in your
heart for the immigrant, the stranger, or even hate, put it aside.
Instead, follow your heart and understand that the immigrant, the
stranger among you, deserves your love, your attention, your values.
I think it's happening here. Again, I don't think it's by accident, I
think it's by their prayers. I think it's by them coming together with
a united voice and saying we have to do what is right. And I thank
them.
I'd like to read now from Reverend Dr. Uth, senior pastor of the
First Baptist Church of Orlando. The reason I want to read the pastor's
notes is because the pastor not only talks about

[[Page H2345]]

reform, he comes from a particular area, Orlando. This is his quote:

There's a consistent message throughout Scripture, and it's
a command to welcome and to treat fairly all people, but
especially the stranger and the foreigner in your land. When
we fail to welcome the stranger, in essence we fail to
welcome Christ.
And so Christians in our church, when they learn about
God's heart for the immigrant and what the Bible has to say,
their hearts are open because we are a people of faith, and
it is our desire to live out that faith in our world.
Coupled with that, when they meet these immigrants, when
they have personal encounters, all of a sudden this issue has
a face, it has a story. And it's in that meeting that
transformation happens and has happened here for us. We know
that the time is now for this discussion.

I thank the pastor. I thank him because he's right. But I also thank
him because I think his prayers, his supplications are being answered.
I think the prayers of his congregation are being answered. We are
coming together, and we are coming together in a bipartisan way.
There are many other things that we disagree on. I've been here not
very long, but I can already tell you there are a lot of things that we
disagree on. But more and more, we're coming together around the issue
of comprehensive immigration reform, and we're coming together because
it's the right thing to do.
In fact, the voices now--and they're few and they're shrill--seem to
be a real outlier now. They seem to be far out, nowhere in the
mainstream. Instead, we're down to the nitty-gritty and we're trying to
figure out the small things. I think that that's very good; I think
that that's healthy.
I appreciate, again, the candor that we've had on this discussion. It
is a pleasure to have the discussion on immigration be so humane and
values-based. But also, some of the interests around the country are
coming together too.
I sit on the Agriculture Committee, and we were having a committee
hearing on horticulture and specialty crops. Almost immediately, the
discussion went to comprehensive immigration reform because it's one of
the most important things for the agricultural community.
Interestingly, they said that the bill in the Senate is not perfect,
the bill that we're going to produce here is not perfect, but it's
getting close. They're saying that there's a lot of agreement between
those that work in the field and represent them and those that are the
farmers. When do you see that? It seldom happens. Again, I think it's
happening because of the prayers of the pastors.
I do want to read a few more of them because they've sent so many of
them now to my office, and also because I appreciate what they're
doing. They're making a difference here. I also want to show that it's
not only in Orlando, in one part of the country; it's all over the
country that pastors and religious groups are coming together to pray
for us, to encourage us to move forward on comprehensive immigration
reform. So I would like to read from Reverend Dr. Fleming, senior
pastor, Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas:

We're beginning now to see immigrants as us. We live
together, we work together, we serve together, we're all in
this together, and the notion of welcoming the outsider and
the stranger and inviting them in has been key to that. We
see the immigrant as a person created in the image of God.
They're husbands and wives, they're parents, they're
children.
Oftentimes our broken immigration system causes great
suffering in the homes and in the families and in the
people's lives.
I believe, and my experience has been here in Texas that
conservative Christians and evangelicals are rising to
support a Biblical approach to this very complex issue.

I thank him. I thank Dr. Reverend David Fleming, senior pastor,
Champion Forest Baptist Church of Houston, for his courage, for his
prayers, for his encouragement, for his heart, and for his insight. I
think it's very insightful. I want to quote him:

In fact, they have been invited in. I've had the great honor now to
speak to many pastors, and evangelization has happened with many of the
undocumented people that have come to our Nation.

Now, in fact, as the marine that I spoke of earlier, as well as the
soldier, oftentimes they meet their spouses in church and they get
married. Then we put them in a situation that if they legally want to
live together their spouse has to leave the country for 10 years. Can
you imagine that? The marine, who is again going to be deployed
overseas, for his wife to be here legally she would have to leave the
country for 10 years, what would she do with the children? Does she
take them with her? They're American citizens. Does she go to this
country that she really doesn't know anymore? How can that be right?
How can that be fair? How can that be just? How can that be Christian?
How can those be our values? They're not our values. That's why I thank
Pastor Dr. David Fleming for stepping forward and saying it's time that
we change.
Now, I happen to be a Catholic, so I'd like to quote now Archbishop
Jose Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles and chairman of the USCCB
Committee on Migration. He says this:

Our collective faith groups are prepared to support just
and humane reform of a broken immigration system. With the
President's leadership and cooperation between both parties
in Congress, we can achieve this goal within the year.
We agree with the President and the bipartisan Senate
leaders who are stressing the importance of a path to
citizenship for the undocumented. We should not sanction a
permanent underclass in our society.

Never to correct an archbishop; however, I would add that also the
good work that's being done bipartisanly here, too, in this House, in
the Congress, and you will soon see a bill.
I thank and I pray every day for the members of that group that are
working hard--often under great stress--to come forward with a bill, a
change in the law, that represents our better angels. It represents our
values as Americans, as Christians, as Jews, as people of faith. So I
thank them.
I'd also like to quote Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, president of the
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference:

Today's meeting invigorated me with hope and optimism. The
President's resolve in conjunction with evangelical support
facilitate the prescription for a comprehensive resolution
addressing America's immigration crisis. I am convinced that
with prayer and prophetic activism, we will live out Matthew
25 and welcome the stranger in the name of Jesus.

{time} 1730

Of course he quotes famously Matthew 25. Matthew 25, of course, is
the judgment where Jesus himself says how we will be judged as a
nation. I hope you go back and read that part of Scripture.
Jesus says:
``When I was hungry, you gave me to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave
me to drink. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was ill, you
cured me. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me. When I was a
prisoner, you visited me.''
Then of course the sheep will ask:
``When do we do that, Jesus?''
``When you did it to the least of my brothers.''
That's what Reverend Samuel Rodriguez was quoting and most Christian
groups quote. It's so profoundly who we are: the welcoming of the
stranger, Christ among us.
Madam Speaker, I know I don't have much time left. I appreciate
deeply the time that I was given today to speak to my colleagues and to
speak to hopefully a larger crowd that I have great faith, I have great
faith that we are coming together and we're coming together in a way
that we will produce a bill that we can all be proud of and hopefully
that we will all support but that will have bipartisan support. And it
won't be an accident. It will be because of the prayers of these
pastors. It will be because of the courage of Rabbi Stern. It will be
because of all the encouragement that we've received from the faith
communities outside of this House. It is because of their fervent love
and support for the immigrant, the stranger, that we will have a just
law, and I thank them.
Madam Speaker, thank you for the opportunity today. I yield back the
balance of my time.

____________________