[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 60 (Thursday, April 6, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF A PRIVATE BILL FOR THE RELIEF OF DANIELA VARGAS

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                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 6, 2017

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing a 
bill to provide relief to Ms. Daniela Vargas, a young woman from my 
Congressional district in Mississippi.
  Ms. Vargas was brought to the United States by her parents as a 
seven-year-old child from Argentina in 2001. Like the estimated 750,000 
other young people in the same situation, she became a Deferred Action 
for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient and has a pending DACA renewal 
application. By all accounts, Ms. Vargas is a hard worker who, up until 
March, was living the American Dream. Having graduated from high school 
with honors in 2013, Ms. Vargas was pursuing her college degree in 
hopes of becoming a math teacher. On March 1, 2017, this valuable 
member of our community who respects our laws, pays her taxes, and has 
no criminal record found herself the innocent victim of the cruelties 
of our current immigration system.
  On that day, Ms. Vargas participated in a press event at City Hall in 
Jackson, Mississippi organized by local church leaders and immigration 
advocates to raise awareness about the negative impacts that 
politically-motivated immigration enforcement actions directed by the 
Trump Administration are having on communities across the country and 
those young people with DACA status who have come to be known as 
``Dreamers''. Exercising her First Amendment Rights, Ms. Vargas shared 
her family's story and courageously spoke out on behalf of those who, 
like her, live with the fear that on any given day they will be 
deported in furtherance of the President's misguided and cruel 
immigration agenda. When Ms. Vargas and a friend left the DACA event at 
City Hall, they were trailed by ICE Agents. After pulling the car over 
on the side of the road, the ICE Agents, who should have been aware 
that Ms. Vargas had a pending DACA renewal application, took her into 
custody and transferred her to a detention facility in Jena, 
Louisiana--160 miles from her home. When Ms. Vargas' case was brought 
to my attention, I, along with a diverse network of civil and 
immigration rights groups, mobilized on her behalf. Thankfully, on 
March 10th, a U.S. District Court granted the petition submitted on her 
behalf and she was released from detention, but an order for her 
removal remains active.
  Enforcement of our country's immigration laws must hold steadfast to 
our cherished American values. Our nation needs law-abiding DACA 
recipients, like Ms. Vargas, to be free from the threat of deportation 
so that they can contribute to our communities. These Dreamers took a 
leap of faith during the Obama Administration and came out of the 
shadows in the hopes that our immigration laws would be reformed to 
give them the security they need to build a better future for 
themselves and their families. Members of the Jackson community support 
Ms. Vargas wholeheartedly, and I am proud to offer my support as well. 
While this may be a private bill for one individual, I strongly believe 
we must do better by the thousands of other young people like Ms. 
Vargas who now live in fear of being uprooted from the communities that 
they call home. We urgently need to offer them a secure path forward, 
not one that pushes them back into the shadows or threatens to send 
them away from the country that is their home.

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