[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 201 (Thursday, December 20, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING CARLOS TORRES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. VICENTE GONZALEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 20, 2018

  Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my fellow 
lawmakers: who is protecting those that protected this nation?
  Carlos Torres, an Army veteran who served during the Vietnam War, 
passed away on Sunday, December 9, 2018, at the age of 64. However, Mr. 
Torres did not leave this Earth in the home he served. Instead, he left 
us having been isolated by a country that failed to provide him his due 
citizenship after military service.
  Mr. Torres, an immigrant from Mexico, joined the U.S. Army with the 
promise and hope of becoming an American citizen following his service. 
However, once he completed his service, he was denied, he was ignored, 
and he was left unprotected by a system that abandoned so many others. 
Distraught by this lack of care and naturalization progress, Mr. 
Torres--like so many others--turned to other means of catharsis.
  He was caught with marijuana. He was charged. He was deported. He was 
sent back to Mexico, making less than a dollar a day. Without VA 
benefits. Without his family. Without hope.
  On Thursday, December 13, 2018, he returned to the United States, but 
this time, he returned in death.
  Mr. Speaker, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans, we failed 
Carlos Torres and so many like him. We cannot continue to desert these 
American patriots. The time for retribution is now.
  Last year, I introduced H.R. 3429, the Repatriate Our Patriots Act, a 
bill that would create a pathway to citizenship for deported veterans 
who held a clean record prior to service. Time is running out. The 
lives of these men and women depend on our immediate actions. We must 
pass this bill. We must make amends. We must do so now for the 
thousands of deported veterans, for their families, for Carlos Torres.

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