[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 167 (Thursday, November 21, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1730-E1731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     SHARING STORIES IN SUPPORT OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE GARCIA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2013

  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, the following are stories of individuals 
affected by our nation's broken immigration system:

       Story 1: I have been in this country for five years. I came 
     from my country, Honduras, because I was a victim of domestic 
     violence from my father. When I reported the abuses I was in 
     danger because there were gangs that threatened me, and I was 
     very scared. I was able to leave my country with no problems, 
     thank God. I sought the opportunity to continue studying but 
     I was asked for papers and they required me to have legal 
     status. I waited for the Dream Act because, at the time, I 
     was hearing a lot of talk about it. But, unfortunately, I 
     didn't qualify for deferred action. I got desperate because I 
     didn't want to spend much time without continuing my studies. 
     A friend of mine suggested I go to Canada. When I was 
     crossing through Buffalo, six immigration officials stopped 
     me and treated me very badly. I told them that I was not a 
     criminal and asked them not to treat me like that. I didn't 
     resist, behave violently, or do anything for them to treat me 
     like that. They made me feel like the worst person in this 
     country, just because I didn't have documents. I just wanted 
     the opportunity to continue my studies and I wanted for them 
     to help me. I entered a jail with criminals, with women I had 
     never seen in my life, that scared me just by looking at 
     them. I could not sleep, could not eat in peace. I just kept 
     thinking that at any moment there could be violence. Thank 
     God my fiance's family and church members raised the money to 
     pay $10,000, and now I'm waiting for the court because I have 
     been given a deportation order. I don't want to continue 
     living in the shadows. We are not criminals. We are people 
     with dreams, with the same heart, the same blood that runs 
     through our veins. We are people just like the citizens here. 
     We are also part of this country, this is our home. Despite 
     everything I've always considered it my home because I'm 
     thankful I am here and that I'm still alive. If I would have 
     stay in my country I would've died a long time ago. I only 
     ask for immigration reform to take place soon, because the 
     future of so many people is at stake. Update: Her deportation 
     order has been postponed until 2014. Her child is due in 
     September of 2013.
       Story 2. I support a roadmap to citizenship, as a woman 
     that came to this country 18 years ago and that have been 
     through some hard times. Thank the Lord, today I am a U.S. 
     citizen, and my children are U. S.-born citizens. I support a 
     roadmap to citizenship for all the people that are suffering, 
     that don't have a driver's license, that don't have documents 
     and are afraid to lose their families. I have an uncle who I 
     adore and who is always afraid just with the thought that he 
     could be deported one day, that's why I say yes to a roadmap 
     to citizenship for all the people who are contributing to 
     this country.
       Story 3: I say yes to citizenship. I am Cuban, even though 
     I was not [undocumented] when I came to this country I 
     understand the need for the sisters and brother that are 
     undocumented. I just heard the stories and what people feel 
     when they have to drive, these are honest men and women that 
     come to this country to give everything for their life. This 
     is the land where honey and milk flow we are all immigrants 
     and we need citizenship. Every person that does not have a 
     criminal record should have citizenship. All those honest men 
     and women, parents, grandparents, children without documents 
     to go to school and who are getting behind because of not 
     having their documents.
       Respond, Obama, and all members of Congress. We say yes to 
     citizenship. I am involved even though I am already a 
     citizen. We have to support our brothers and sisters in the 
     name of Jesus. May God bless and grant them with great 
     wisdom. In the name of Jesus.
       Story 4: I came to the United States in 1991. I planned to 
     stay here for three years to finish my law degree. In 1994 I 
     had an accident. That was my first battle. One can face many 
     injustices in this country. I was denied medical attention at 
     a hospital in Michigan. I did not have money, and since I 
     wasn't covered by insurance I had to leave.
       I stayed in the state of Michigan with this issue until 
     February 1995. Then I moved to New York. In New York I was 
     diagnosed with a torn knee ligament (MCL) on my right knee. 
     The cost of the surgery was $65,000. Therefore, I didn't have 
     any other option than to go to Mexico. I had the surgery done 
     after six months. I suffered a lot. Can you imagine? My right 
     knee meniscus and ligaments were torn and the pain was 
     unbearable. The hospital's policy of no discrimination posted 
     on the walls in big bold letters is completely false.
       I had another accident in 2006 here in Immokalee, Florida. 
     The lawyers of Azteca Supermarket tried to blackmail me with 
     threats of calling immigration and many other threats of this 
     kind. Then, I basically dropped the case after writing a 
     letter to the judge in which I called the lawyers cannibals 
     and the fact that they were lawyers didn't mean I couldn't 
     press charges against them. The lawyers of Azteca Supermarket 
     dropped the case as well.
       I have witnessed situations in which workers have been hit 
     by their employers. In fact, I have experienced that same 
     situation myself. When I was living in New York, I used to 
     work at a store where a [Korean] hit me. I have witnessed 
     many injustices in this country. We need comprehensive 
     immigration reform so that employers stop abusing 
     undocumented workers. Today I am diabetic, perhaps because I 
     didn't get treatment on time. After my first accident I went 
     through a period of depression and much suffering, watching 
     how apathetic people were. I didn't comprehend how even 
     though I was working, the hospitals here in United States 
     wouldn't treat me. I was contributing to the economy of this 
     country and the hospitals denied me the right to medical 
     attention. There are many things I would like talk about, but 
     time is short. I'd like to talk to Congress. I'd like to talk 
     to the members of the House of Representatives and the 
     Senate, and I'd like to tell them myself why it is important 
     to have immigration reform.
       If we are contributing to this economy on a daily basis 
     with our work and sweat, it is inhumane deny us medical 
     attention, education and the opportunity to prepare ourselves 
     to be better. I want to reiterate that

[[Page E1731]]

     is very important to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
       Story 5: Hello. I'm from Argentina, but I've been in the 
     United States for 12 years. I am very appreciative of this 
     country because it has opened doors for us, because we came 
     from Argentina where things are really bad. Please, we need 
     immigration reform, a path to citizenship, because we don't 
     have driver's licenses, we don't have health insurance, and 
     we don't have anything to help us stay safe in this country. 
     We want to stay here, we're not going to leave, and for that 
     I say yes to urgent immigration reform, yes to fast 
     citizenship. I'm a 63-year-old grandmother, and I've worked a 
     lot in Miami, but now we can't work nor do anything because 
     we don't have papers. My daughter is unemployed because she 
     doesn't have papers. She is 23 years old and doesn't have 
     papers. I have married children, but they are married to 
     undocumented people, not to people with papers. Please, we 
     need urgent immigration reform.
       Story 6: I want to say yes to citizenship because I 
     believe, just like me, so many good people have come to work 
     in this country, to help and contribute to the economy. I 
     have been living here for 15 years. I am a person like any 
     other, and I believe and think that citizenship is necessary 
     because we have earned it with our work and the sweat on our 
     foreheads, and it would help us so much because we face too 
     much discrimination in our jobs. They rob us, pay us low 
     wages, and there has to be an end. Also, I'd like to say that 
     if there is citizenship or a bill, it would be a great help 
     to the economy of this country and I'd also like to say thank 
     you to all of you for doing all of this, for making us a part 
     of this huge force, and of course, yes to citizenship.
       Story 7: I am supporting immigration reform for 
     citizenship. I am in this country illegally. I want to be a 
     citizen so that I can contribute to this nation. Thank you 
     very much.
       Story 8: It's been six years since I came from Mexico. I 
     came to this country because the situation in Mexico is very 
     critical. There's a lot of crime, you know. There are so many 
     criminals who kill like it's nothing. There's no work. I say 
     yes to immigration reform so that we can be American 
     citizens. I also consider this country like my own, and I say 
     yes to reform.
       Story 9: I am a native of Jalisco, Mexico, and I was born 
     in 1969. I'm from a rural area in Jalisco. I came to the 
     United States when I was 14 years old. I worked in a farm in 
     Homestead, which opened opportunities for me in this country 
     and I received my residency in '86. Now I am working with the 
     University of Miami, and I volunteer with the Florida Farmers 
     Association. The Association made me President of the Board 
     of Directors, and now I am telling them that we can help 
     reform our immigration system and asking them to support 
     immigration reform if they can. This is what I'm doing for 
     the immigrant community living in the country. Above all 
     else, I am also asking that all the states in the United 
     States approve driver's licenses because, independently of 
     whether reform happens or not, people will come to this 
     country with papers, they will overstay their visas, and stay 
     undocumented. I am asking for reform for the immigrants 
     that come to this country.
       Story 10: For me, it is very important that some kind of 
     reform takes place because it is very difficult for us to 
     stay here in this country with all the problems from the 
     police regarding driver's licenses and without the benefits 
     that everyone else gets. Many Americans consider us to be 
     below them simply because we don't have papers, because we 
     have no way to defend ourselves, because we are treated by 
     the police, and all that. We should have so many more 
     benefits so that we can hold a job. It is very difficult to 
     keep a job without papers. I would like for undocumented 
     immigrants to be okay in the United States like everyone else 
     that has papers, for us to be okay with the law, because it 
     is very difficult for me.
       Story 11: I am a farm worker, mainly working on farms 
     picking oranges. I've had many jobs: picking apples, working 
     with tobacco, and doing a lot of other agricultural work. 
     Another thing, I am a citizen. My parents were in Texas when 
     I was born. They worked there after they came from Mexico and 
     they were undocumented. My relatives and I were born therein 
     Texas during the World War, and the United States was 
     fighting. This country needed a lot of manpower, so they let 
     a lot of undocumented people in to work here because they 
     needed to sustain the jobs here so that the country would 
     survive. Because of this, there were many undocumented people 
     here. When the war finished, the excuse they gave was that 
     because the soldiers were returning here, they didn't need 
     undocumented workers, so there were raids to return all the 
     undocumented people and the families that had these 
     groupings, including American citizens, and they sent us back 
     to our countries. That happened when I was a child. Now the 
     same thing is repeating but with a different excuse--now it's 
     the economy, that's why they're sending them back to their 
     countries. This thing is that people who are not from here 
     are returning, they're returning to their families, their 
     children, who are American citizens. Sometimes they deport 
     the father or the mother or a few times both, and the kids 
     stay separated from their parents. In this country it is 
     presumed that families should be together, but for 
     undocumented people, we're not given what everyone says we 
     should have. What I'm saying here is that we have been living 
     in this country for many, many years, so we need to do 
     something. There needs to be reform to the existing 
     immigration laws. We need to fight for immigration reform 
     that can fix the existing problems, so that they can classify 
     undocumented people who are here and unite families so that 
     all the injustices that are occurring can stop. If you don't 
     have a license, you're a criminal and they deport you. They 
     separate families, and the kids are the ones that suffer. Now 
     that President Obama was reelected, there a lot of 
     possibility for immigration reform, but what do we have to 
     do? We need to unite to achieve just reform in a way that 
     everyone, or the majority, can qualify to receive their 
     documents and can be here legally.
       Story 12: More than anything for me, I'd like them to give 
     us the chance to visit our families and to be able to move, 
     for work if not for anything else. We hope that there will be 
     something that benefits all of us, not just me, but for 
     everyone that needs it. I've been in the country for 12 years 
     and until now we've been doing well, but because we don't 
     have licenses, we can't go anywhere easily. But, as far as 
     work and everything else we are all well, thank God.
       Story 13: I'm from Puerto Rico, and I live in Miami. I 
     joined the caravan [organized by the Florida Immigrant 
     Coalition to support immigration reform] because since I 
     arrived in this country, I knew something was not right. 
     There's a community of 11 million people that work hard for 
     their country, this country, my country, but my country is 
     punishing them. These people aren't criminals. I've met so 
     many of them through the caravan and they are farmworkers--
     maybe they're kicking them out because of that, because 
     they're not engineers, or doctors--but these are the people 
     that put my breakfast on the table every morning.
       Like I said, I'm from Miami, and all I have to do is go to 
     the grocery store and buy some oranges. But I've met a lot of 
     people that get up when the sun comes out, go to bed when the 
     sun goes down, and on top of paying them so little, the city 
     is trying to kick them out. When I was in school, I was 
     taught the word ``democracy.'' My teacher taught me that in a 
     democracy, as long as you do right, things will turn out 
     right for you. And I'm seeing a lot of people that are doing 
     things right but things are going right simply because they 
     came from another place. Like I said earlier, it really hurts 
     me to see someone from Mexico, or Peru, from wherever, that 
     the department of immigration, local police, the federal 
     government, sometimes President Obama, sometimes Republicans, 
     sometimes Democrats treat them like less. I'm Puerto Rican, 
     I'm an American citizen, and I am nothing better than these 
     people. These people are so humble and work hard just like 
     me, and this is what brings me to causes like this one. I met 
     a young man who's Mexican who's hanging out with us, he has 
     four children, he's incredibly humble, and he's a hard 
     worker. The only crime he's done is to wake up every morning, 
     go home every night, and put food on the table. That's his 
     only crime, to put food on the table, to feed his kids who 
     are U.S. citizens. Four kids that if they were to deport 
     their dad, the kids would end up orphans. And it seems to me 
     the government doesn't have an interest in more orphaned 
     kids, the Department of Children and Families isn't asking 
     for more orphans. You would think the government would want 
     less.
       Story 14: I am here as a volunteer in the movement because, 
     well, right now I personally work with immigrant families and 
     see the destruction that exists in families, separating and 
     deporting parents, including citizens who have children born 
     here and those children are still suffering the consequences. 
     And, personally, I have a daughter in Mexico and one in 
     California. My daughter who is in California is illegal as 
     well, unfortunately. And my daughter who is in Mexico does 
     not have the same opportunities as my daughter here. I 
     haven't seen my daughter or her family in 18 years. My 
     grandchildren in California do not know my grandchildren in 
     Mexico, and it is a very great sadness that I carry. Every 
     time I look at the separated families, even though it hasn't 
     affected me directly if, for example, my son or my husband 
     were the deported, the fact that my daughters have not seen 
     each other for so many years, that my grandchildren will not 
     know each other each other-- it hurts. I see so many families 
     dealing with this type of separation in my daily work. These 
     families ask me for help because they know I can help them 
     with transportation, translation, or filling out paperwork. 
     But unfortunately I cannot do much for them, even though I 
     whole-heartedly want to. I do what I can but others can do 
     more. I am in this caravan hoping that immigration reform can 
     benefit all families, including mine.

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