[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 172 (Thursday, December 1, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H7105-H7111]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        CELEBRATING THE DREAMERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. O'Rourke) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the stories of and 
celebrate the DREAMers who live in our communities, mine in El Paso, 
Texas, and nearly every single community across the great United 
States.
  All together, we estimate there are close to 750,000 DREAMers in the 
United States. These are beneficiaries of an executive action under 
this President, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 
that ensured that young people in our communities who arrived in this 
country at a very early age, brought here by their parents from another 
country of origin, who are going to school, living by our laws, being 
productive and net contributors to their communities, and who, in some 
cases, strive to serve in the military or perform some other community 
or civic service, are able to reside in this country after they come 
forward voluntarily out of the shadows to give their personal 
information, their fingerprints, their contact information, their 
names, their addresses, and their telephone numbers, in other words, to 
register with the government so that we know who is in this country and 
satisfy some legitimate security concerns that we have when it comes to 
undocumented immigration. So these young DREAMers have satisfied those 
concerns by coming forward.
  This temporary reprieve from deportation allows them to continue to 
live in our communities, to continue to be our neighbors, to continue 
to make this country great, and to make cities like El Paso the safe 
and wonderful communities that they are. It is no accident that El Paso 
has more than its fair share of DREAMers and also is the safest city 
not just along the U.S.-Mexico border, it is the safest city not just 
in the State of Texas, but it is the safest city in the United States 
today.
  The urgency behind our actions today lies with the commitment from 
the President-elect to immediately terminate the current President's 
executive actions when it comes to these DREAMers. This commitment to 
terminate this action will also terminate any certainty these young 
people have. It will reduce the security of our communities when young 
people no longer feel comfortable approaching or working with law 
enforcement for fear of deportation; and it produces extreme anxiety 
and fear that I can only begin to imagine for myself or for my kids if 
I knew that I had given all of my personal identifiable information, 
including the address at which I reside, my telephone number, and the 
names of my parents, to the Federal Government which now may have a 
policy to immediately deport me back to the country of origin and, if I 
were, as a typical DREAMer might be, 20 years old and attending the 
University of Texas in El Paso, may have lived in El Paso for the 
majority of my life. I may have come over at the age of 3, and for the 
last 17 years, the only life I knew was in the United States; the only 
city I knew was in El Paso, Texas; the only language I spoke was 
English. I had no family, no connections, no place in my country of 
original origin, and I didn't speak the language. Then I would be 
unable to thrive.
  I think for some of these young people, they question whether they 
will have the ability to survive. I think it is really that critical, 
and it is very important that we remind ourselves, the

[[Page H7106]]

rest of the country, and certainly our colleagues here in the House of 
the gravity of the situation.
  Beyond the moral imperative, which I think is the most important, 
there is also an economic dynamic to this. The Department of Commerce 
estimates that the DREAMers, these 750,000-strong DREAMers who are 
contributing every single day in our communities, going to our high 
schools and making our country better, that over their lifetimes in the 
United States they will earn up to $4 trillion of taxable income--
taxable income that will allow the community they live in to flourish, 
to thrive, to enrich those that they hire and work with, and to add 
significantly to the Federal Treasury.
  That is just one point in terms of the economic advantage of creating 
additional certainty and, at a minimum, not forcibly removing these 
DREAMers or terminating the protection under which they currently 
reside.
  Before I yield to my colleagues to share their stories about the 
DREAMers in their communities--and, again, they are in every single 
State of the Union and almost every community in every one of those 
States--I thought I would share the story of one of the DREAMers that I 
met this Monday in El Paso, Texas, when I held a townhall on short 
notice, a few days' notice to my constituents over Facebook and Twitter 
and published in the newspaper.
  More than 300 El Pasoans showed up to share their stories of how they 
came to this country and what they are now doing in our communities. 
What was even more impressive and poignant for me and many in the 
audience that night were the U.S. citizens in El Paso who showed up to 
stand in solidarity and in strength with these DREAMers and to let them 
know that, come what may, whatever executive actions are terminated, 
whatever necessary immigration reform laws are not enacted, that we as 
a community in El Paso, Texas, are going to stand with these DREAMers, 
make sure that they are successful, and make sure that they have 
nothing to fear going forward.
  One of these DREAMers that had the courage to stand up and be counted 
on Monday night was Estefania Garcia Ruvalcaba. She is 17 years old. 
She arrived in the United States in El Paso, Texas, which has served as 
the Ellis Island for much of the Western Hemisphere, at the age of 3 
years old. I ask you to tell me what 3-year-old understands concepts 
like citizenship or nationality.

  She doesn't speak the Spanish language anymore that she barely knew 
at the age of 3. She only speaks English. She is a junior at Del Valle 
High School in El Paso. She is captain of the soccer team. She is on 
the student council. She is the press box manager, and so she is 
earning a little bit of money to be able to take home at the end of the 
day and help out; and she goes to every single football game to be able 
to support the hometown and home high school team. On top of that, she 
runs on the cross-country team.
  My 8-year-old daughter, Molly O'Rourke, has an example in Estefania. 
I want Molly to be able to do all those things. I am proud of 
Estefania. She is part of what makes El Paso such a wonderful place to 
live and what makes me so proud to represent the community and helps 
us, again, stay the safest city in America, bar none.
  There are 750,000-plus Estefanias who have come forward to register 
with their government to make sure that we know that they are in our 
communities to defer the action that otherwise would deport them back 
to their countries of origin and to make this country successful.
  At this time, I yield to a good friend and colleague from the great 
State of Texas, who understands these issues just as well as anyone, 
who has thousands of DREAMers in his community, and whom I am so 
grateful to for being here tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Castro).
  Mr. CASTRO of Texas. I thank Congressman O'Rourke. I thank the 
gentleman for all of his work on behalf of these DREAMers, these young 
students who were brought to the United States through no fault of 
their own. They have grown up here, many of them knowing no other life 
except an American life.
  President Obama, during his term, was so good to issue an executive 
action known as DACA to give these folks who were in a legal limbo a 
chance to participate in American society. So many of them have gone on 
and are doing great things. DACA allows them to work, to go to school, 
and, most of all, to not have to live in fear, not have to live in fear 
of deportation.
  As you mentioned, many of these folks are people who were brought 
here at the age of 3 or 5 or 9 and had no choice about coming. Some of 
them didn't even realize that they were not American citizens until 
they had to apply to college or try to get a driver's license or in 
some other way interact with the government.
  There has been a lot of rhetoric over the past few years about 
immigrants. They have been called rapists, murderers, and criminals. 
There is so much of that kind of rhetoric that is used when people talk 
about the border, for example, and even the people that live in our 
border cities, whether it is El Paso or San Diego or McAllen, Texas. My 
wife is from the Rio Grande Valley, where you have a high concentration 
of DREAMers, for example. Sometimes, in all of that rhetoric and 
ugliness, there is a profound misunderstanding about who these people 
are. So I thank the gentleman for helping to highlight their stories 
and, really, for the country, to put a human face to these folks who 
are good people.
  I will tell you, because I know other Members have stories of 
DREAMers in their districts, just a quick story about somebody from San 
Antonio, a young man named Eric Balderas. His story was in the news in 
the last few years.
  Eric was the valedictorian in 2009 of Highlands High School. He was 
number one in his class at Highlands High School, and he was on the 
academic decathlon team, student council, and even played varsity 
soccer. He also received a full scholarship to Harvard University.
  While returning to Harvard in 2010 to complete summer research in 
molecular biology, Eric was detained at the San Antonio International 
Airport for traveling without acceptable identification. After efforts 
from Senator Durbin and the Harvard University president, U.S. 
Citizenship and Immigration Services was able to grant him deferred 
action status. Eric's story, so far, has had a happy ending. He 
graduated from Harvard in 2013.
  There have been other folks who have achieved just as much, who are 
productive members of our country and our society, but oftentimes they 
are maligned, and they are often misunderstood.
  Right now, we are at a critical moment in our country's history. 
There is a question hanging over the Nation about how we will treat 
these DREAMers, these young students, these young people, again, who 
find themselves in legal limbo, who are as American as we are, and who 
have only known America as their homeland. There is a big question 
about what will happen with them.
  The President-elect has talked about getting rid of DACA early on, 
perhaps on the first day in office. So, as I am sure you found, there 
is a lot of anxiety from these young people and also their families 
about what is going to happen to them. They have played by the rules; 
they are being productive; they are working hard; they are going to 
school; they are paying their taxes; and they are living as Americans.
  This will be a real test for the Congress, for the President-elect, 
who, on January 20, will be the new President, and, really, for the 
Nation about what kind of nation we are. This really tugs at our 
conscience.
  When we think about some of the rhetoric that has been used--some 
people call them criminals. They say that they broke the law. I think 
when I hear that, as an attorney, I think about the different legal 
standards that we apply in criminal cases. For example, there is 
something known as mens rea, state of mind. Often when you are charged 
with a crime, a jury or a judge asks: Did you intend to do what you 
did? Did you know what you were doing?
  Even in our civil cases when we think about the negligence standard, 
there is still a question about whether somebody was indifferent to 
what they were doing. Well, in this case, these young people had no 
idea what was going on. They had no participation in even coming to the 
United States, but they find themselves here as Americans.

[[Page H7107]]

  


                              {time}  1915

  I hope that our Nation and this Congress and the next President will 
be big enough, will be gracious enough, will respect their humanity, do 
the right thing, and make sure that they are protected under the law.
  First of all, thank you for holding your town hall, which may have 
been the first one in this season after the election. We are going to 
have one in San Antonio on December 11, which is a Sunday, with State 
Representative Diego Bernal, who really helped organize it and 
spearhead it; Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who also represents part of 
San Antonio; State Senator Jose Menendez.
  There are also other Members who I know are going to hold similar 
town halls in their cities. I will read off just a few of them because 
I think it is important to acknowledge that work:
  Pete Aguilar in San Bernardino, California; Tony Cardenas in Los 
Angeles, California; Ruben Gallego in Phoenix, Arizona; Raul Grijalva 
in Tucson, Arizona; Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico; and Raul 
Ruiz, who has a district in southern California. I know that there are 
others that are being scheduled.
  I think all of this work is so important because when we talk about 
DACA, we are not talking about a piece of legislation that is going to 
take months to come through the House of Representatives and the 
Senate. This is something, a decision, that the new President on 
January 20 can make a decision to do away with it completely and to 
subject these kids to deportation, often to a country that they have 
never known, that they have no recollection of being a part of or 
growing up in. This really is a moral question, as you mentioned, for 
the country that pulls at our conscience.
  Thank you for all your work.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I can't thank the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Castro) enough for taking the time to be here for his leadership 
on this issue. Not just after this election, and not just since he has 
been in the House of Representatives, but really his whole life has 
been exemplary in his advocacy for the most vulnerable amongst us in 
ensuring the truth about the story of these young people who come to 
our country.
  It is not simply a matter of sympathy--although, I sympathize with 
their situation--it is also a matter of our self-interest as a country. 
As we continue to look for ways to become a stronger and better 
country, so much of that lies with those who have made the very 
difficult choice to come here and contribute to our success and 
contribute to the American Dream. I am grateful to you for continuing 
to advocate for them and to share those stories with the rest of the 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Massachusetts 
(Mr. Kennedy), another very good friend from a State that has known its 
share of amazing stories of immigration and seeing those immigrants 
flourish and become the best of us in this country.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman O'Rourke for yielding 
and for organizing this critical Special Order.
  Most importantly, thank you for your fierce advocacy for people of 
your district, for people of our country, for immigrants, and for 
DREAMers.
  Let me begin by echoing your comments and that of our colleague, Mr. 
Castro's, as well. The stories that you both have shared underscore the 
urgency that we face in protecting these children and young adults from 
deportation under the next administration.
  Tonight, right now, there are high school seniors across our country 
writing college essays, compiling recommendations, and filling out 
applications who are not sure if they will be allowed to stay in this 
country when it comes time to enroll in classes.
  There are elementary and middle school students that are working 
diligently on their homework because, one day, they want to pursue a 
college education or work in their communities, but now they are not 
sure if that day will come.
  There are young professionals working in our factories, teaching in 
our schools, volunteering in our neighborhoods, or even preparing to 
join the military that are going to sleep tonight worried that, when 
the calendar strikes 2017, the only life that they have ever known 
might be shattered.
  All of these children, these young people, all 740,000 of them, they 
are our future. They put their trust in us, their government, in our 
promise to protect them if they stepped out of the shadows.
  Today, that faith is frayed. It is our responsibility, all of ours, 
as this body, to commit to them that the only country that they know 
will not wash away their contributions, those that they have made, and 
send them to an unfamiliar land; because they believe in the American 
Dream just as our ancestors did and as we do today; because they are 
DREAMers; because they are our neighbors, our friends, our classmates, 
our community, and so much more; because they are countrymen.
  Down this hallway in the Senate, a few of our Republican colleagues 
have already started on legislation to protect DACA beneficiaries. In 
order to lift the cloud of doubt for thousands in our country, fighting 
for their rights must be our priority today and every day until we 
succeed.
  Congressman O'Rourke, Congressman Castro, and my colleagues gathered 
here with us this evening, thank you for your work, thank you for your 
passion, thank you for your commitment. I know that we are on the right 
side of this fight when I see all of you standing here.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Kennedy) for his eloquence on this and for his empathy in allowing 
us to try to think about what it must feel like to be working on that 
finals paper or that homework assignment in high school or at community 
college or at one of our great universities and not know if at the 
start of next semester you will find yourself in another country, in a 
place that is now strange to you, with a language that you don't speak.
  When we think about this, when we think about these mass 
deportations, literally using the information that these young people 
and their families came forward with to register under the DACA 
program, and then using that against them after they voluntarily came 
forward, to find out where they live, pick them up, process them, 
deport them back to their country of origin, beyond the incalculable 
emotional human psychological toll, beyond what that would do to the 
conscience of this country, look at what it would cost us in financial 
terms. We would lose 2 to 2.6 percent of our GDP. We would lose nearly 
$5 trillion over the next 10 years, and government receipts on the 
trillions of dollars that these DREAMers would otherwise earn would 
also be gone with those DREAMers--nearly $900 billion that we would 
lose from the United States Treasury.

  We would lose young Americans like the one who is pictured next to 
me, David Gamez, who is now 20 years old and who joined us Monday at 
our town hall in El Paso, Texas, one of these brave young El Pasoans, 
young Americans, who had the courage to come forward, and shared with 
us at that town hall that he came to this country at the age of 10. He 
came from Mexico City. He immediately applied himself, learned English, 
rose to the top of the ranks in his high school classes, took AP 
courses, is now a member of the STEM club at the El Paso Community 
College, and is pursuing a career in electrical engineering. He is an 
artist, he loves to draw, he loves to paint, and he wants to be an 
innovator. His heroes are all American heroes. His heroes are Elon 
Musk, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison, those people who are contributing 
to our country, creating jobs, innovating, creating, growing this 
economy. That is what David wants to do. That is what he will do if he 
is able to stay in this country.
  I think it is so important for us to give David the certainty and, 
also at the same time, not to provoke anxiety and fear that will cause 
him to lose this opportunity, to lose his way, and for us to lose out 
on all the amazing things that he can create.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Titus), who 
I have the pleasure of sitting with on the Veterans' Affairs Committee 
and who, over the last 4 years, I have learned from because she is the 
most tireless champion for veterans. She is the most tireless champion 
for the LGBT community. She is often the most tireless champion for 
those who do not have a

[[Page H7108]]

voice in our system or whose voice is not loud enough. So it is up to 
Ms. Titus to amplify that voice and become their advocate.
  Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman O'Rourke for yielding. 
You are too kind in your compliments. I give them right back to you. We 
have worked together on many things, including veterans and public 
lands, and now this very pressing issue of what we can do to protect 
our DREAMers.
  Since the election, my office has just been deluged by phone calls 
from the DACA recipients, those we call DREAMers, from their friends, 
and from their family. They are afraid. You can just hear the fear in 
their voice. They are just calling to ask questions: Will I be 
deported? Will my friends be deported? Will my family be separated? 
Will I lose my house? Will I lose my job? Will I lose my scholarship? 
Should I apply for DACA? Should I apply to renew DACA? Or should I just 
keep my head down and hope that they don't notice that I am here?
  It just tears your heart out. That is one of the reasons that in my 
district, in Las Vegas, we held a round table, not a town hall. We 
started with those organizations who help DREAMers. We had Catholic 
charities; we had the university, UNLV; we had other institutions of 
higher education; we had the Latin Chamber; and we had the Mexican and 
the Salvadoran Consulate all gathered around the table because we don't 
know how to answer those questions. We wanted to be sure we were all on 
the same page, giving people the same advice, and reassuring them that 
whatever happens, we will be there for them. That helps a little, but 
still you want to be able to say: This is what you are facing.
  I know I am not the only one getting these calls. They are coming 
from kitchens and living rooms and restaurants and stores and families 
all across this country, as you have heard from some of the other 
speakers here tonight. For our DREAMers and their families, this fear 
and anxiety will continue to grow. I am afraid they are just going to 
return to the shadows if we don't act soon to responsibly reform our 
immigration system.
  Now, as yet, we have heard very little from the Trump transition team 
about what is actually going to happen to the DREAMers once President 
Obama leaves office.
  Will they round up people and send them back? Will they build that 
wall?
  We don't know. But what we do know is that Mr. Sessions has been 
appointed as Attorney General, who has a very long record of opposing 
comprehensive immigration reform, actually railing against it; and that 
is not a very good sign.
  After months of just disgraceful campaign rhetoric speeches that 
denigrate immigrants, Trump and his team now have to really deal with 
the gravity of the situation. I would suggest, to begin with, they 
should acquaint themselves with some of the young men and women who 
have been able to go to work, go to school, contribute to the tax base, 
contribute to society and our culture, like those that Mr. O'Rourke 
mentioned, because they had that protection of DACA.
  Instead of demoralizing and degrading them, they should take the time 
to learn about people like Brenda Romero. Brenda is a young DREAMer who 
interned in my office this past summer. She is one of 12,000 DREAMers 
in Nevada. She is not a rapist and she is not a drug dealer. She is a 
high school graduate and the first immigrant to be the student body 
president of a small college in my home State. She is now pursuing a 
law degree.
  Brenda was brought to the United States from Mexico when she was just 
2 years old. Like so many of the over 700,000 DREAMers, she didn't 
really have any choice in that decision. She has had a choice about her 
life, and she has made the most of it, like so, so many DREAMers, 
including another dreamer from Las Vegas who many of you have seen on 
television, an amazing national spokeswoman for this campaign for 
DREAMers, Astrid Silva.

                              {time}  1930

  They have contributed, and they inspire me. That is the reason I am 
joining the gentleman here tonight to talk about their stories, and 
they are the reason that I will continue to be on the front line--to 
fight to make this country a better place for them so they, in turn, 
can make it a better place for all of us.
  I want you to go out and meet these people. I want you to sit down 
with them eye to eye. I call on all of my colleagues to do that. Hear 
their stories, and you will understand just how remarkable they are. 
They will make you feel very proud, and you will find that you have 
more in common with them and their families than you have apart.
  We are not a country that should alienate immigrants. We are a 
country that is characterized by the Statue of Liberty: give me your 
tired, your poor, your hungry, those yearning to be free. Surely, we 
can't forget that kind of history and heritage that we have of 
welcoming immigrants with open arms. We are not a country that should 
be tearing families apart. As we stand here tonight on the floor of the 
House, I would just ask you to make that effort to get to know the 
DREAMers in your community. Hear their stories, and I think you will 
agree with me just how remarkable they are.
  So I thank the gentleman for letting me speak. Count on me to 
continue this fight. I think, if we can't get comprehensive immigration 
reform done in the short term, let's at least protect those DREAMers 
who already have that status so that they don't have to live in fear.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. I thank the gentlewoman from Nevada for sharing these 
personal stories of the people in her community who inspire her. It is 
these stories of courage that the gentlewoman just recounted and that I 
have been trying to share about the young DREAMers in my community of 
El Paso that were the impetus for our coming together this evening and 
sharing with our colleagues and the people of this country the truth 
about a group of very special young people who are too often 
misunderstood, if not outright maligned; so I am grateful to the 
gentlewoman for her efforts to improve our understanding of this very 
special group of people.
  When I am thinking about these courageous, young people whom I have 
been introducing you to tonight from the city of El Paso who happen to 
have come to this country, to my city, from another country at a very 
tender age--be it 3, be it 5, be it 7 years old--now, as they are in 
their teens and in their early twenties, we find them to be flourishing 
and inspiring us.
  I want to share a story that goes back a few generations as I 
introduce the next Member who will speak. That is the story of Mildred 
Parish Tutt, who in El Paso, Texas, in 1955, after having graduated 
from Douglass High School--a segregated, all-Black institution in my 
community of El Paso, Texas--had the audacity to apply for enrollment 
at Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas at El 
Paso, and her application was rejected solely based on her race.
  Mildred and her friend Thelma White and a few other students who were 
denied enrollment teamed up, and, with the help of the NAACP and an 
attorney named Thurgood Marshall, they took this issue and their 
aspiration and this case to a Federal court. Thanks to the wisdom and 
the judgment of our Federal judge at the time, R.E. Thomason, not only 
was it found that Texas Western's ban on African American students was 
unconstitutional, but his ruling and their effort and Mildred's courage 
effectively desegregated the institutions of higher learning in the 
State of Texas for every single Texan.
  As I was sharing with some of our colleagues yesterday, as I was 
introducing my very good friend Barbara Lee, this took incredible 
personal sacrifice. I can only imagine the difficulty that Mildred 
faced on that day; yet it was so incredibly important for this country. 
That is the kind of story that we are telling today about these, again, 
courageous, special young people in our midst whom we want to continue 
to allow to flourish.
  I want to, at this time, yield to the gentlewoman from California, 
Barbara Lee, who has her roots deeply in the State of Texas at El Paso.
  Ms. LEE. I thank the gentleman very much.
  First of all, I thank Congressman O'Rourke for lifting up my mother, 
who was a phenomenal woman, who passed away last year, and who broke 
many glass ceilings. I want to thank the gentleman for recognizing what 
a

[[Page H7109]]

true shero she was; so I just had to tell you. I want to thank the 
gentleman also for his tireless advocacy on behalf of my hometown and 
the place of my birth, El Paso, Texas, on so many fronts but especially 
on behalf of immigrants.
  I grew up in an immigrant community. I can tell you my mother, my 
grandfather, my sisters, and my brothers-in-law--everybody from El 
Paso--consider the gentleman our Representative, so I thank him very 
much. We are very proud of him.
  Mr. Speaker, I attended St. Joseph's Elementary School on Waco 
Avenue, and we were taught that we must value the dignity of all human 
beings. I was taught by the Sisters of Loretto in El Paso. So now, in 
representing the beautiful East Bay of northern California, my values 
and what I learned from my mother and my grandfather and my parents in 
El Paso really drive me to continue our fight on behalf of our young 
people, on behalf of our DREAMers.
  Four years ago, President Obama made history by announcing the 
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, DACA. This critical 
program provides--and this is just commonsense--humane protections for 
undocumented Americans, mind you, who were brought to our Nation as 
young children. Since the executive action, about 744,000 young people 
have benefited from this important program.
  I am proud to say, though, that now one in three DREAMers in the 
United States is from my State of California. These are brilliant young 
people who deserve the chance to live the American Dream. DACA empowers 
young people and keeps families together even in the face of Republican 
inaction on comprehensive immigration reform.

  This is an issue that is dear to my heart. As I said, I grew up in El 
Paso in an immigrant community; so I know no option. I mean, we have to 
protect our young people and keep families together. More than a 
quarter of the residents now in my congressional district were born 
outside of the United States. Tens of thousands of young people have 
benefited from the DACA program.
  We sponsored a town meeting several weeks ago. Actually, it was 
sponsored by Oakland Community Organizations, which is an affiliate of 
PICO. It was an amazing town meeting. Everyone participated. It was 
multiracial. It was held in the Catholic cathedral. There are several 
stories I would like to share, just very quickly, that we heard that 
night.
  One DREAMer and DACA recipient--let's call her Amy--was born in 
Venezuela and immigrated to the United States as a child. DACA opened 
doors for Amy. She received her bachelor's degree at UCLA and then went 
on to obtain her law degree. This is really impressive. Through her 
hard work, Amy became the first DACA recipient to be admitted to the 
California bar. I am so proud of Amy. She has taken her skills and 
experiences to give back to our community. Today, she works at a 
nonprofit in the East Bay where she is an advocate for immigration 
reform and helps other young people benefit from the DACA program; but 
while she spends her days helping her community, she still lives in 
fear--in fear for her family, in fear for her friends, in fear of being 
deported at any moment.
  I have another constituent--let's call him Gabriel--whom I met 
recently at the same event. Gabriel was born in Mexico and immigrated 
to the United States 10 years ago. Since then, he has used his voice to 
empower his community and advocate for immigrants. In high school, he 
started a local DREAMers club that advocates for the inclusion and 
advancement of undocumented students. He went on to attend UC Berkeley 
and was able to receive funds to cover most of his studies. Through 
DACA and State policies, he was able to afford the high cost of living 
in the Bay Area and receive a world-class education.
  He and Amy show the incredible potential of our Nation's young 
people. Their determination to live the American Dream, to receive a 
quality education, and to help their communities was really unlocked 
through DACA. It is terrible to think of the dreams that would be 
destroyed by rolling back DACA now.
  Time and time again, I hear stories like Gabriel's and Amy's--stories 
of families who are kept together because of DACA and of young people 
who are able to attend college and pursue these dreams. Now these young 
people are afraid. They fear that their families will be torn apart, 
that their parents may be deported, and that their American Dreams are 
truly in jeopardy.
  We have always been a nation of immigrants. This is a history that we 
should be proud of; but, right now, we know that immigrants in my 
district, in El Paso, and all across our Nation are scared to death 
about what this next administration will bring. There are families who 
wake up in fear that, come January 21, their work or their school will 
be raided. There are DREAMers who dread being forced to leave the 
country--the only country that they have ever known. This is morally 
wrong. The nuns who taught me at St. Joseph's would be shocked if they 
knew what was taking place now. We are better than this. These young 
people deserve better from our country, and they deserve better from 
this Congress.
  Again, I am calling on my Republican colleagues to let us vote on 
bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform--legislation that will 
reunify families, that will grow our economy, and that will provide a 
clear pathway to citizenship. I know the gentleman and all of our 
colleagues are going to continue to fight for and to pass immigration 
reform and the DREAM Act; but, minimally, we have to protect our 
Nation's DREAMers, our immigrants, and all families.
  I thank the gentleman again for his leadership. I thank him for 
inviting me to be with him tonight. Again, my family is very proud of 
him, our Congressman.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. I thank the gentlewoman from California, and I thank 
her for continuing to cut the profile in courage in Congress and for 
her fierce advocacy on the issues that matter most. She continues to 
stand out as an example to me, and tonight is testimony to that; so I 
am grateful to her for being here.
  I now want to yield to yet another good friend. It is an 
embarrassment of riches, in the Chamber this evening, to have so many 
talented Members who have decided to stand up with some of the best 
among us. In my opinion, the gentleman from Oregon, who in the 4 years 
that I have been here has taught me so much and much of that by 
example, is perfectly suited to share his experiences, those of the 
community he represents, and what he wants to see going forward for 
this great country.
  I yield to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting 
me to speak this evening and for his thoughtfulness in organizing this 
conversation and inviting others of our colleagues to come forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is so important to be able to put a human 
face on an issue that sometimes gets lost in the rhetoric. We have had 
a lot of rhetoric this last year. The fears that were stoked by the 
campaign with harsh words about immigrants, people of different 
religions, people who would be at risk of deportation, to maybe having 
a registry, having denial based on people's religions or what their 
perceived religions might be has sent shock waves, but it is nothing 
compared to what I have experienced in the days immediately after the 
election.
  People who were apprehensive and concerned are terrified--children 
unsure about whether parents will be there when they come home from 
school, people who are concerned about whether they will be able to 
have employment. It is not just people who may not have their documents 
in order. This touches millions of Americans who are part of extended 
families, who are part of families in the workplace.
  I was honored to be part of a fundraising event 2 weeks ago that was 
hosted by Oregon's wine industry. We came together in a lavish 
fundraising dinner and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the 
health care for the employees in their vineyards. Now, they are not 
asking about their documentation. They understand that there may be 
some who are questionable, but they are not seeking in terms of what 
people's histories are.

                              {time}  1945

  They have people here who have worked with them for years who are

[[Page H7110]]

like family and who are connected to the community. The notion of 
sending these young people back, who, as you and our other colleagues 
have pointed out, came here as children--they didn't have any choice. 
What 4-year-old, 3-year-old, 2-year-old infant is making this perilous 
journey on their own? They were brought here. They were raised here.
  Many of these young people, as you have already had testimony this 
evening, have had amazing records of success. They took the United 
States Government and its President at his word and came forward and 
took a little bit of a risk because they wanted to be part of the 
fabric of this country. They are in this situation, sadly, because of a 
failure of will by my Republican friends in the House.
  As the gentleman knows, he was here when we had an opportunity to 
vote on comprehensive immigration reform that passed the Senate on a 
bipartisan basis. It wasn't a great bill, but it was an important step 
forward, on a bipartisan basis, that would have prevented some of this 
confusion, some of this pain, and some of this uncertainty.
  If the Republican leadership had allowed it to come to the floor for 
a vote, they wouldn't have had to twist any arms. There would have been 
more than enough votes on both sides of the aisle to enact it. That 
failure of courage stoked part of this hateful campaign that we have 
all experienced and has kept these unfortunate people and their 
families and friends--whether they are citizens, employees, they're 
part of the community--under a cloud.
  This is a failure of the House of Representatives that has created 
this situation. We should not, as a country, compound it by raising the 
specter of decent, hardworking, young people who are here through no 
act of their own, who have taken a step forward, a little risk to try 
and integrate into our society, who are high performing.
  I could give examples tonight of a young man who is completing his 
dental studies at the Oregon Health & Science University, a DREAMer who 
dreams big about serving his community as a professional dealing with 
dental health. There is a young woman who is a human resource 
professional at the largest school district in our State, who isn't 
just adding her competence, but is being able to provide opportunities 
to deal with some of the real serious human resource questions from 
first-line experience. We could all do this if we tried.
  Representative O'Rourke, I deeply appreciate your bringing this 
forward. I think it would be a tragedy if we were to punish people who 
took the President at his word, who put confidence in this Congress, to 
unwind this unfortunate situation. But I think it is important that all 
of us add our voices, that we connect with the people at home who are 
desperate, apprehensive, and vulnerable, to be able to make sure the 
American public knows what is at stake; because if we add our voices, 
our examples, and engage them, there is no doubt in my mind that there 
will be enough public pressure to prevent a tragedy of immense 
proportions.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) and could not agree more forcefully with his 
words. In addition to these, again, inspiring examples of what the 
DREAMers mean to us as a country and what they mean to the gentleman 
personally, I also enjoyed hearing about how the community he 
represents is rallying around them and supporting them and ensuring 
that they know that they are not alone, despite the rhetoric, despite 
the changes that we might see in executive actions going forward.
  I am also deeply appreciative of the gentleman's reminder that it is 
this institution that really has the opportunity, the responsibility, 
and the power to correct this. In these 4 years that I have had the 
pleasure of joining you here in the House, I know that both of us and 
dozens of our colleagues have tried mightily to do that, but, 
unfortunately, to no avail. That does not in any way damper my 
enthusiasm to do this. In fact, these stories that we are sharing 
tonight only cause me to want to redouble my efforts and work with you 
and our colleagues to make sure that we do everything we can and, 
beyond that, that we are ultimately effective and successful in setting 
this country, when it comes to our immigration laws and it comes to the 
lives of these 750,000 DREAMers, in the right direction. So I thank the 
gentleman for being here this evening.
  One thing that the gentleman from Oregon said that really struck 
home--and helps me to introduce a very good friend of mine from El 
Paso, Claudia Yoli--were his comments about family and the importance 
of family and how fundamental family is to our success.
  So I ask those in the Chamber this evening to think about Claudia 
Yoli, who is pictured here, to my right, in front of the White House, 
perhaps in 2013 when she served as an intern in my congressional office 
here. She came to this country for the first time at the age of 8, from 
Venezuela, and has been nothing but exceptional to the community that 
she lives in, to the country that is now her home, and to those that 
she has worked with, including me and my office, and our State Senator 
Jose Rodriguez, for whom she works today. She showed courage in coming 
to our townhall on Monday evening, where she told us about all of this 
and then shared something that was so personally painful and tragic 
that it could only help me to understand truly what is at stake here.
  In 2010, Claudia's mother traveled back to Venezuela. Because of 
Claudia's status, because she was a DREAMer and because of provisions 
within the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, she was not able to 
go back to Venezuela with her mother. Unfortunately, last year, 
Claudia's mother passed away in Venezuela, and Claudia could not be 
there to comfort her mother in her dying days, nor could she be there 
for the funeral, nor could she be there with those family members who 
came together to grieve her mother's passing. Our inaction causes 
tremendous pain and suffering for those whom we have the power to help 
right now.
  I yield at this point to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster), 
another colleague with whom I was elected in 2012.

  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, I am Congressman Bill Foster, and I am proud 
to represent the 11th District of Illinois.
  In our district, we have vibrant immigrant communities from all over 
the world. I have met many DREAMers, both at home in Illinois and right 
here in the Halls of Congress. For many of them, the United States is 
the only country that they have ever called home.
  Our district includes the diverse cities of Aurora, Bolingbrook, 
Joliet, and others. In Aurora, the East Aurora High School District 131 
has one of the largest Naval Junior ROTCs in the world. Many of these 
young ROTC students come from immigrant families, and they dream one 
day of serving our country in the Armed Forces. You can see it in their 
faces during flag ceremonies, parades, and you can see the admiration 
of the younger children looking up to these ROTC DREAMers. Many of them 
are here because their parents dreamed of a better life for their 
children.
  The DACA program has been incredibly successful. Over half a million 
young people are currently enrolled in it. They are living examples of 
the American Dream, the idea that anyone could come here and have a 
fulfilling and prosperous life regardless of where you come from and 
where you live.
  Instead of creating new opportunities for these great young people, 
Republicans in Congress have repeatedly voted to end the DACA program. 
We need to reform our outdated immigration laws and not double down on 
a broken system. As their Representatives, we should honor their 
patriotism and dedication to our country with support, not fear and 
degradation. It is a pretty simple proposition.
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Foster) for being here this evening, for standing up for some who, 
especially right now, feel that perhaps their government is not with 
them and perhaps these commitments that were made to them that 
engendered their trust, their willingness to come forward to share 
their personal information, their addresses, their identities, perhaps 
have been abandoned. Your presence here tonight, your words, I think, 
do much to show them that that is not the case and that there is still 
a chance in this country that we will do the right thing.

[[Page H7111]]

I appreciate the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster) for being here 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me say that, whether it is these 
750,000-plus DREAMers, these young Americans who, at a very tender age, 
were brought to this country by their parents or relatives and in every 
single way, except for citizenship, are no different than my three 
children or anyone else that I represent in the great City of El Paso, 
Texas--these DREAMers are going to high school, are serving in our 
Armed Forces, are attending our universities, are, in many respects, 
the future of our communities, of our country, who have so much to gain 
personally and so much to give back to this country. These DREAMers 
must be spared from any decisions that would break the trust that was 
created with them, that would force them back to their countries of 
origin, which they no longer know as home, whose language they no 
longer speak, where they no longer have family with whom they can 
reside.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is also important, on the larger subject of 
how we talk about those who are in our country from another country, 
that we remember a few facts. For example, the border that connects us 
with our country and neighbor to the south, Mexico, is as safe today as 
it has ever been. The community that I have the honor to represent and 
to serve, El Paso, Texas, which is conjoined with Ciudad Juarez to form 
the largest binational community anywhere in the world, is the safest 
city in the United States. It is safe not in spite of, but precisely 
because of, our connection to Mexico, the Mexican immigrants, the 
Mexican Americans, and those who are in our community, documented or 
otherwise, that make El Paso such a tremendously safe, wonderful, 
thriving community.
  We know that U.S. cities on the border with Mexico and U.S. cities 
with large immigrant populations are, in fact, far safer than the 
average U.S. city in the interior, be that in Kentucky, be that in 
Iowa. That is what we have to be proud of. That is what we need to 
share with the American public.
  We also need them to know that immigrants, documented or otherwise--
and including, especially, those who are undocumented--commit crimes, 
including violent crimes, at a far lower rate than do native-born U.S. 
citizens.
  We need to remember that we have so much to be proud of, so much to 
be grateful for, so much to celebrate in the immigrants' story, 
especially these DREAMers who, right now, live in a period of 
uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. It is incumbent upon us in this Chamber 
to do what we must to change our laws to reflect our values and the 
reality in our communities and in our country. Mr. Speaker, I stand 
ready to work with any Member on either side of the aisle to do just 
that.
  I want to thank my colleagues who joined me tonight to help drive 
home the very important point that everyone who is in our country that 
has registered with the government, that has come forward, that has 
applied successfully under the DACA program deserves to stay here and 
deserves our help to ensure our laws allow them to do that going 
forward.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, thank you to my colleague Mr. O'Rourke for 
his work to highlight such an important issue.
  Since November 9th, many of the immigrants in my district of Dallas-
Fort Worth have been rightfully nervous about their future in the 
United States.
  It is no secret where the President-Elect stands on immigration.
  He has vowed to repeal the highly successful Deferred Action for 
Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA.
  This move is wrong for America and for the immigrants whose lives 
have been forever changed by the program.
  Since 2012, over 135,000 bright young Texans have successfully 
applied for the program.
  It has been life changing for all those who qualified.
  This has been especially true for one of my constituents, Erik.
  Erik is a 27-year-old DACA recipient who immigrated to the United 
States from Mexico with his mother when he was just two years old.
  Erik was unaware of his immigration status for the majority of his 
life until he reached a critical milestone at the age of 16.
  When he asked his mother if he could apply for his driver's license, 
what normally would be an exciting event turned into a difficult 
conversation with his mother about his immigration status.
  Erik was devastated because although he called the United States 
home, he would be unable to move forward with his life as he planned.
  Once he graduated from high school, Erik knew that attending college 
would be a significant challenge--one he almost didn't take on.
  He shared that he wasn't even sure college was the right decision 
because he was unsure that he could get a job after he graduated.
  Yet, he persevered and graduated in 2011--but once again was 
confronted with the reality that his undocumented status created 
additional challenges.
  Although he was college educated, Erik couldn't legally work in the 
United States.
  But with the announcement of DACA in 2012, Erik had a ray of hope.
  Finally, Erik could legally work and better participate in the 
country he's called home since the age of two.
  Since successfully receiving DACA status, Erik has worked as a Store 
Systems Engineer at Rent-A-Car and has advocated for other undocumented 
immigrants.
  Unfortunately, the newly found freedom Erik enjoyed under DACA is now 
in jeopardy.
  Now, with just weeks away until the President-Elect is sworn into 
office, millions of DREAMERs are frightened they will be forced to 
return to the shadows or be targeted for deportation.
  These young aspiring immigrants are already part of our communities.
  They attend our schools, work alongside us, and live in our 
neighborhoods.
  For Erik and the thousands of other DREAMERs across Texas, the 
revocation of DACA could mean returning to countries they haven't 
called home since they were children.
  While we work to reform our broken immigration system, we must 
remember that the immigrants we speak of are just like us--they have 
hopes, dreams, and want to live a good life.
  Like Erik, I believe that we need to move forward with immigration 
reform.
  I believe we can do so in a way that keeps families together and 
benefits our country as a whole at the same time.
  I stand here alongside my colleagues to remind our country's DREAMers 
that the fight isn't over.
  Our fight here in Congress has just begun.

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