[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H1377-H1378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         IN DEFENSE OF DREAMERS AND THOSE WHO BROUGHT THEM HERE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for me to rise 
today in defense of Dreamers and those who brought them here. I rise in 
defense of them, Mr. Speaker, because, quite frankly, there was a 
desire for persons to come here. There was a desire for them to come 
and to work, and to work at wages that some considered subpar, a desire 
for them to work under conditions that were not the best. There was a 
desire for them to come, and they came.
  I rise in defense of them because, Mr. Speaker, we are complicit in 
this behavior. We were complicit because we knew they were coming, and 
we wanted them to come.
  I rise in defense of them because I don't believe that a country as 
great as the United States of America can ask young people to accept a 
pathway to citizenship but not give it to the people who brought them 
here: their parents, in most cases, but, in a good many cases, other 
persons who cared for them.
  To ask these young people to sell out their parents, to borrow a term 
that we use, is more than a great nation should ask of young people; to 
say to them, ``You can stay, but your parents may have to go,'' what 
kind of country are we if we demand this of young people who came with 
people whom we wanted to come, who have done us no harm, who have 
worked hard in our kitchens, who have worked hard cleaning our homes, 
who have worked hard tending our fields, who worked hard bringing in 
the fruits of the labor that they brought to this country?
  What kind of country says, ``You are going to go back,'' after many 
years of being here, and send the young people back to places of which 
they know very little?
  Mr. Jose Escobar is a case in point. He was sent back to San 
Salvador. He hadn't been there in many, many years. He came here around 
15 years of age.
  Mr. Speaker, now is the time for this country to take the affirmative 
action to correct what will be an injustice if we pursue the path that 
the President would have us pursue. Now is the time

[[Page H1378]]

for us to make sure that every person is receiving the kind of liberty 
and justice for all that we extol in the Pledge of Allegiance. Now is 
the time for us to make sure that all of these young people are given 
the opportunity to succeed on their merits or fail on their demerits in 
the country that they know as home.
  Mr. Speaker, we are a great country. A great country does not do what 
the President is proposing, and I will not stand with the President on 
this. I stand and defend the Dreamers and the people who brought them 
here: in most cases, their parents. This is what a great nation ought 
to do.
  I know that there may be people who differ, but when you are standing 
on right, you don't worry about those who differ. This is the right 
thing for the United States of America to do.

                          ____________________