[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 19, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4623-S4624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           IMMIGRATION REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the life of a young woman by the name of 
Roxanna began as an immigration success story. Her parents came from 
Cuba in the 1950s, and they raised their daughter to appreciate the 
freedoms and opportunities available to her. That was because she was 
born in the United States. Roxanna was born in the United States. She 
is an American citizen.
  She wrote to me last month. Here is what she said:

       I am proud to say that this country has always been my 
     home.

  But when she met her husband Genaro, she saw a different side of the 
American immigration system. He came to the United States 15 years ago, 
and he did not have proper documentation, proper paperwork.
  He left Mexico for the same reasons Roxanna's parents left Cuba--to 
try, to try really hard to build a better life. He worked tremendously 
long hours when he got here, doing odd jobs for not very much--a few 
dollars a day, to be honest.
  Then he moved to Nevada, got a job doing construction, did a little 
better, and there he did real well because he met Roxanna.
  They married in 2003 and soon petitioned to have his undocumented 
status changed, adjusted. Although they initially received a letter 
from immigration officials that gave them hope, they have lived in 
limbo now for 10 years. Because he is undocumented, he worries every 
day of being arrested and deported--every day--and he has nightmares 
every night that he will be separated from the love of his life, his 
American wife.
  This is what she wrote to me in addition to what I have recited 
earlier:

       We pay our taxes. . . . We have never caused any harm to 
     anyone or been in trouble with the law. We don't stand on 
     corners asking for money. We work very hard to make ends 
     meet. . . . We have friends and family here that we love and 
     [who] love us. Yet [we] still feel like [we're] not wanted 
     here.

  Genaro is one of 11 million people living in America without proper 
documentation. Many of those 11 million are the parents, siblings, or 
spouses of U.S. citizens. Some of them overstayed

[[Page S4624]]

their visas. Some crossed the border illegally. Others were brought 
here by their parents when they were only children. I recited 2 days 
ago one example in Las Vegas: a 7-month-old when she came here, carried 
on her father's shoulders.
  But regardless of how they got here or why they lack the proper 
documents, these 11 million people play a crucial role in our economy 
and a vital role in our communities.
  That was proven last night at 5 o'clock when the Congressional Budget 
Office--this nonpartisan arm we look to for direction of what things 
cost and do not cost here on Capitol Hill with our legislation--issued 
a statement yesterday that this bill that is on the floor today 
certainly is good for the economy. As I will say a couple times during 
my brief remarks here, it is going to, over the next two decades--what 
is left in this one and the next decade--reduce the deficit in America 
by almost $1 trillion.

  Of course, as we have said here previous to getting the report from 
CBO, this legislation is good for the economy and good for security. 
That is a good package.
  These 11 million people need a pathway to get right with the law. The 
commonsense, bipartisan reform proposal before the Senate will help 
them do just that. It will reduce illegal immigration by strengthening 
our borders, it will fix our broken legal immigration system, and it 
will crack down on unscrupulous employers who provide an incentive to 
come here illegally and take, in many instances, tremendous advantage 
of these people who are desperate.
  This measure that is now on the Senate floor provides a route to 
earned citizenship--earned citizenship--for 11 million people who are 
already here. Some have been here for a long time. The process for them 
is not easy. They do not go to the front of the line. They go to the 
back of the line. But they at least are in the line. They will have to 
work, pay taxes, stay out of trouble, and work on English.
  This legislation will also recognize that the alternative to earned 
citizenship; that is, deporting 11 million people, is simply not 
sensible. We do not have the money. We cannot do it fiscally and we 
cannot do it physically, and that is for sure.
  Detaining and deporting every unauthorized immigrant would cost more 
each year than the entire budget for the Department of Homeland 
Security. And not only is mass deportation impractical--not to mention 
cruel--it is the wrong approach for our economy--again, a trillion-
dollar reduction in our deficit if we pass this bill, which we will 
here in the Senate.
  Immigration reform that includes a roadmap to citizenship will boost 
our national economy, I repeat, and increase our security.
  Helping 8 million immigrants who are already working--of the 11 
million who are here, they are working, some, as we heard from Roxanna, 
in jobs that are not that great, but they are working. As she says, 
they are already working. They need to get right with the law. And it 
will mean billions of new revenue for our country. It will mean every 
U.S. resident pays his or her fair share.
  That is one reason an overwhelming majority of Americans support the 
legislation that is on the floor--not 51 to 49--an overwhelming number 
of Americans, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.
  But immigration reform is not just an economic issue. It is a moral 
issue. This bipartisan proposal will allow immigrants to stay with 
those they love, with their U.S. citizen children in many instances, 
siblings and spouses. It will allow Genaro to stay with his American 
wife.
  This is Roxanna's final plea to me in this letter that she wrote:

       I pray that you would open your hearts to the millions like 
     me. . . . All we ask is a chance [at] a pathway to 
     citizenship and the peace of mind to live our lives as 
     meaningful citizens of this great country.

  Her country, my country, our country.
  I urge all my Senators on this side of the aisle, as we say, and the 
Republican Senators to keep her wish, her prayer--a prayer and a wish 
she shares with 11 million human beings who are here in America today. 
This prayer, this wish, should be in all of our minds and in our hearts 
the next few days.

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