[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 113 (Wednesday, July 13, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H4828-H4829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WHY WE'RE HERE

  (Mr. CARDENAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CARDENAS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to try to do justice to a 
beautiful poem that won a national contest by Eliana Jaffee. And the 
contest is ``Why I'm Glad America is a Nation of Immigrants.'' And 
Eliana Jaffe's poem is ``Why We're Here.''
  ``That morning when the sun had risen, my shores, my seas, my hopes

[[Page H4829]]

freed from prison, the poor, the rich, and all the forgiven came to me.
  ``Go, ask that girl to compare, a life of despair to a breath of free 
air, ask her: Why are you here, not somewhere over there?
  ``She'd say to you, that long ago, her ancestors came here, through 
hail, sleet and snow. Sunrise and sunset, they stayed there until the 
end, and when my job was finished, their hearts all had mends.
  ``I have been many things, and most are quite clear, a haven, a 
refuge that people hold dear.
  ``These waters of mine, so brilliant, so light, with hopes of 
tomorrow, a future, so bright. Coming from places of sadness and fear, 
I open my arms, and welcome them here.''
  By Eliana Jaffee, a fifth grader at the Pardes Jewish School in 
Scottsdale, Arizona.

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