[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 147 (Thursday, December 4, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H8367-H8368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  (Mr. GUTIERREZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleagues about a mom I 
met on Tuesday. Maria Pena is from Colombia. She has three kids, 
started a small business, and has lived here for 14 years, and her 
Congressman is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Goodlatte.
  Maria's youngest is a U.S. citizen. Her employees are citizens. Maria 
wants to work and live legally in the U.S. but has no way to do so. She 
told me, ``Luis, I am too scared to leave the house unless I have to, 
so we drive to school, we drive to church, and we drive to the grocery 
store, and that is it.'' Maria knows anything else is too risky because 
any contact with the police could mean she gets deported and her family 
is split up.
  So, today, I give thanks that Maria and her family in just a few 
months will sign up for that same peace of mind my family has because 
she will be eligible for deferred action for parents of U.S. citizens, 
and I will think of Maria and her children no matter how many times the 
Republican majority makes me vote on bills to attack the President's 
actions that he is taking because they will prevent American

[[Page H8368]]

citizen children from losing their parents.

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