[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING ANA M. FIGUEROA ON HER RETIREMENT AFTER THIRTY-ONE YEARS OF 
                             PUBLIC SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 14, 2022

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and 
congratulate Ana M. Figueroa, my District Chief of Staff who retired on 
March 4, 2022, after almost 30 years on my district staff. It also 
gives me great pleasure to help her celebrate her 53rd birthday today, 
September 14, 2022.
  Ana is a proud Mexican immigrant born in the town of Cueramaro, 
Guanajuato. Her parents, Jose Dolores Figueroa and Consuelo Figueroa 
Laguna, immigrated to the United States with two of Ana's four 
siblings, Rigoberto, and Rosa Maria, in 1974 and settled in the Los 
Angeles area. Ana and her older sister, Maria Guadalupe, joined the 
family in Los Angeles one year later, reuniting the 7-member family 
which now included Ana's youngest sister, Maricela.
  Ms. Figueroa grew up in Boyle Heights and the unincorporated East Los 
Angeles community. She attended Lorena Street Elementary School, Rowan 
Avenue Elementary School, Robert L. Stevenson Jr. High School and 
graduated from James A. Garfield High School in 1987. The proud Bulldog 
graduate then attended Occidental College where she majored in 
Cognitive Science and minored in Sociology.
  Upon college graduation, Ana began her public service career with the 
office of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley as the assistant to his Liaison 
to the Latino Community and Eastside Area Coordinator in 1991.
  In July 1992, Ana was recruited by my California State Assembly 
office to serve as a field representative for Southeast Los Angeles 
cities, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles in the 56th Assembly 
District. She was then promoted to field deputy when I was elected to 
represent the 33rd Congressional District in January 1993. She became 
Senior Field Deputy and Casework Director in June 1995, and my District 
Chief of Staff in May 1998.
  Ana earned the respect and gratitude of staff, colleagues, and 
elected officials at the congressional, state, and local levels as a 
result of her effectiveness, collaborative leadership, unwavering 
commitment to community service, and outstanding dedication.
  With impeccable integrity, compassion, and distinction, she served 
the constituents of the 33rd, 34th, and 40th Congressional Districts I 
represented through the years as the first Mexican American woman 
elected to the U.S. Congress.
  Ana officially retired from the U.S. House of Representatives on 
March 4, 2022, after almost 30 years as a member of my district office 
team.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing and 
thanking Ana M. Figueroa for her 31 years as an exemplary public 
servant and extending sincere best wishes for a healthy, prosperous, 
and richly rewarding retirement, and a very happy 53rd birthday.

                          ____________________