[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 13, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H2684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          A COMMUNITY IN PERIL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Phillips) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise with great urgency to sound 
an alarm because we have a community in peril.
  The Liberian community in Minnesota and around the Nation is dealing 
with a crisis of our very own making. When the DED, Deferred Enforced 
Departure, program expires on March 31, thousands of our Liberian 
friends and neighbors will be at risk of losing their jobs and their 
homes and being deported back to a nation that they no longer know.
  Thousands of Liberians settled in the United States in the 1990s and 
early 2000s when their country was devastated by civil wars. My friend 
Louise Stevens was one of them. She was a woman with a dream of a good 
life who worked hard to get an education and worked hard to get a good 
job; and because of a civil war she had nothing to do with, she had the 
courage and bravery to flee her home and start over in America.
  She slept on a mattress in a friend's living room for over a year. 
She and her kids shared two rooms for another year. And when President 
Clinton introduced the DED program in 1999, she was finally able to 
work without fear of being deported.
  She went to Boston Scientific and, with her education and work ethic, 
was able to get a good job and start a career that spanned 18 years. 
Now, she is over 60 years old, and she could lose everything once 
again.
  ``The world took everything from me,'' she told us. ``Now I have a 
home; I have a job; I have a hospital to go to; I have friends; and 
Minnesota is my home. America is my home. I can't wrap my head around a 
piece of paper telling me we don't care; you can't live here anymore.''
  Another of my Liberian constituents, Michael, told us that ``I am 
almost 50. My friends in Liberia are either dead or living outside of 
the country. If I am sent back, I will have accomplished nothing. My 
whole life is here, and this is my home.''
  Another, Abdi Mohamed, who is afraid of losing his brother: ``I 
cannot begin to imagine the nightmare this will create in my 
community,'' he said. ``I am not ready to let my bond with my brother 
go. We love to go shopping at the Mall of America. Dave and Busters is 
so much fun together. I am not ready for this.''
  Mr. Speaker, we can do something about this. We can stop the 
nightmare from becoming a reality. We can legislate a fix.

  It is time to act. This is what we are here to do: to put people 
before politics and make a real difference in our communities.
  Our Liberian neighbors are friends; they are workers; and they are 
taxpayers. They have played by the rules; they have worked 
exceptionally hard; and they have thrived in good jobs. If we lose 
them, we will be losing our workforce; we will be losing our community; 
and we will be losing our family.
  We have 18 days to act, 18 days to do something to make sure that our 
Liberian community will never have to spend another sleepless night 
wondering if the world will take everything away from them once again.

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