[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 189 (Tuesday, December 6, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H8783-H8786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DACA
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kahele). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2021, the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger
Fernandez) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority
leader.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the
hundreds--no, thousands of DACA recipients and Dreamers who inspire us
every day with their art, resiliency, and strength.
Their stories of success, hope, and dreams are the stories of our
country and those who truly believe in the American Dream.
Last week, I went to the Kennedy Center, one of the world's most
prestigious performing arts venues, here in this very city, to see the
Ballet Hispanico.
There, I saw Hugo Pizano Orozco, an artist, a dancer, and a Dreamer.
He is a constituent of mine from Espanola, New Mexico.
Hugo and his family are originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. He came
to the United States before he was 2 years old.
After moving from Mexico to Espanola, he fell in love with the art
that is dance. He attended the New Mexico School for the Arts, which is
a very prestigious school in New Mexico dedicated to the arts.
But like many others, his future remained uncertain because of his
immigration status. As a senior, he didn't know if his DACA status
would be granted.
Once it was finally approved, though, he applied and was accepted to
Juilliard, one of the world's most prestigious performing arts schools.
Today, he is a renowned dancer and on tour with Ballet Hispanico.
I have a picture of him here because he does inspire with his art
form. He inspires me. He soars across the dance floor at the Kennedy
Center.
I was moved, so I asked him for his permission to highlight his
story, his inspiration to our community and to America of what our
Dreamers can do when we let them live their dream, when we let them
accomplish what they are capable of doing in our beautiful country.
His story reminds us of the inspiring stories of thousands of
Dreamers across our country. His family brought him to the United
States in search of a better life, and he found his American Dream.
His story reflects the best of us and what the American Dream is
truly about: hopes and dreams for a better future. Like so many others,
his story inspires me, gives me hope, and is why I stand here today.
He soars from New Mexico and graces America with his stunning
performances, but we find Dreamers in every State and every community.
I want to echo his words today. He said: ``Don't think because you
are from a small town in New Mexico, you can't go out there and do the
thing you want to do.''
We need to remember that small places can do big things. Yes, small
places can do big things.
{time} 1700
Our Dreamers come from all walks of life--small towns, big cities,
the rural areas, suburbia, everywhere. They believe they could do more,
and with DACA they have done more.
Like Cindy Nava, a fellow New Mexican who came from Chihuahua,
Mexico, seeking a better life. Now, as a 35-year-old, she is actually
the first-ever DACA recipient to achieve a presidential appointment to
work in the Biden administration as a senior policy advisor to the U.S.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. She now works for Marcia
Fudge.
Hugo and Cindy are two of the more than 5,000 DACA recipients who
make New Mexico a more vibrant place to live.
None of this would have been possible if we didn't have DACA. With
the recent court rulings, however, DACA is in immediate danger. We need
our Senate Republican colleagues to rise to the moment.
We passed out of this House in the spring of 2021 the American Dream
and Promise Act. We now need the Senate to act and work with us to pass
bipartisan legislation before the end of the year because it is now or
never for our Dreamers.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Garcia).
Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to call upon our
colleagues in the Senate to protect DACA recipients before the end of
this Congress.
Six years old, Madam Speaker. Six years old. That is the average age
recipients of DACA were when they first entered the U.S. through no
fault of their own.
Known as Dreamers, these young people have served in our military,
attended our schools, and worked in our communities. They have grown up
here, eagerly contributing to our neighborhoods and the diversity that
makes America great. They are Americans in their heart and their soul
and in their minds because this is the only country that they have
known.
Many of them are now educated doctors, trusted lawyers, committed
schoolteachers, and essential workers. In fact, more than 200,000 of
them worked as essential workers during the pandemic keeping us safe,
keeping us healthy. Now, because of right-wing attacks on our
communities' all-stars, their futures are uncertain.
Madam Speaker, Dreamers need action, and they need it now.
In my home State of Texas, nearly 100,000 Dreamers are at risk of
facing deportation, and 30,000 of them live in my hometown of Houston.
They are not strangers; they are not Martians coming in from some
alien nation. We are talking about our friends, our neighbors, people
we go to church with, people we buy groceries with, people that are
just down the street, and they are also part of our families.
For our community, it is now or never. The Senate must put Dreamers
over the political tactics of fear and hate. It is simple: we need to
put people over politics. We need to put Dreamers over rhetoric. The
time is now.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Garcia. We
know that Americans want DACA to be codified. They want our Dreamers to
live here.
Indeed, in the United States we know that a bipartisan poll conducted
in October 2022 found overwhelming support,
[[Page H8784]]
Democrats, Independents, and Republicans all support this. Democrats
support it at 93 percent, Independents at 75 percent, and our
Republican neighbors, they also support it at 71 percent.
This needs to happen. This needs to happen for us to truly live up to
the promise that we could be.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is holding this Special Order hour.
I welcome all of my colleagues who have come to speak before us here
today.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Ruiz),
the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who has come with his
two daughters, to share with us his thoughts on Dreamers.
Mr. RUIZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today as chair of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus, as a father of these two beautiful daughters, Sky and
Sage, to call on the Senate to act now for Dreamers.
This October, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that the DACA program is
unlawful and set the stage for this incredibly successful and popular
program to be struck down by the conservative courts in Texas.
If Congress does not act by the end of this year, the future of
thousands of Dreamers will be on the line.
Dreamers like Juan Vasquez from my district--in fact, from Mecca--
who, as a senior in high school, was detained by ICE while working in
the fields as a farmworker with his parents to help them pay the bills.
After taking him under my wing, as a pre-med student Juan graduated
top of his class from UC Berkeley and finished top of his class at UC
San Francisco School of Medicine. Now he saves lives. He saves American
lives. He saves fathers, mothers, children, daughters, sons, and
grandparents every day as an emergency medicine resident in New York
City. I think I had some influence, being an emergency physician myself
and mentoring him in that path.
If DACA ends, Juan and hundreds of thousands of others will lose
their jobs--impacting labor market sectors already experiencing
shortages, such as healthcare, education, service industries, food
production, and more.
If DACA ends, our economy would lose more than a quarter of a
trillion in lost GDP over the next decade. If DACA ends, prices will go
up.
If DACA ends, we will see dire and insurmountable ripple effects
across our communities and local economies.
For the sake of doing what is right and good and just, and for the
sake of our economy and for the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who
call our Nation home and have known no other home, I call on the Senate
Republicans to join in good-faith negotiations to find a permanent
solution for Dreamers based on the House-passed American Dream and
Promise Act. Use it as the framework.
Madam Speaker, I urge every Member of this body, Republicans and
Democrats, to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in advocating for
a bipartisan DACA deal to be included in the end-of-year omnibus
package.
We absolutely must deliver peace of mind for Dreamers and their
families. Keep their families together and create opportunity for our
economy. The time to act is now. The time of urgency is now.
Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership for being
vice chair of communications for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
because your voice is powerful, your voice carries on, your voice is a
voice of true leadership that will continue and be generational.
I appreciate this Special Hour to advocate for our Dreamers and to
protect DACA.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Ruiz for
bringing Sky and Sage to the floor of the House today, because as we
look at these beautiful, intelligent, curious children--and curious is
one of the best things to be, you know, because that means you are
curious about the world around you--they are the age of many of our
DACA recipients who came with their parents. Their parents made the
choice and the children came with them. This is the only home many of
the DACA recipients have ever known.
What have they done in this home?
They have brought so many of us joy. They have helped make our
schools vibrant. They are caring for our children, for your children,
as doctors, teachers, nurses, and accountants. They are in all walks of
life. Some of them choose to go into accountancy.
We have the stories here, numerous, from every State and every
district, of those who chose to apply for DACA protections.
Right now we know that because of the Fifth Circuit decision that
declared DACA unlawful, that these hundreds of young Dreamers and
families are afraid for their futures. We must act.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa).
Mr. CORREA. Madam Speaker, if I may, I just want to say that the
Dreamer issue is not about immigrants, it is about America.
Dreamers are the perfect kind of immigrant that you want in this
country. They follow the law. They pay taxes. They are either gainfully
employed or have to be studying in order to qualify as a Dreamer under
the DACA program.
Now, 70 to 80 percent of all Americas, Democrats and Republicans,
support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. They are our friends.
They are our neighbors, firefighters, police officers, and they also
serve in the military.
Here is a poster of one of my constituents, Jose Angel Garibay. He
was the first servicemember from Orange County to make the ultimate
sacrifice for America after 9/11 in Iraq. He died as a Dreamer, as a
noncitizen.
Later on, this body saw it appropriate to give him U.S. citizenship
posthumously.
Jose shouldn't have waited until after he passed away to become a
U.S. citizen because he made the ultimate sacrifice for his new
country--the only country he knew, the United States of America.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to inform you that I represent probably the
largest number of Dreamers in the country: Orange County, California.
Orange County, the county that Ronald Reagan used to say was the place
that good Republicans would go to die.
Not very long ago, my daughter came home with two of her very good
friends, and they were both very scared and crying. They said: We are
Dreamers. Are we going to be deported? What do we do?
Good, sweet, young ladies--students. I said: You keep studying hard.
You keep working hard. You keep following the law. You keep being a
good person and let us work on legislation in Washington.
Today, my simple ask from the Senate is: Do the right thing. Stop
treating Dreamers as political footballs, you kick them whenever it is
appropriate.
I ask the Senate to please pass the Dreamer legislation and give
those 2 million Dreamers the opportunity to earn--not to be given--but
to earn a pathway to the American Dream.
Again, 70 to 80 percent of Americans agree with this concept. Let's
do our job. Let's continue to keep America as the greatest country in
the world.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
bringing us the story of such bravery and sacrifice, because across
this country Dreamers are participating in every single aspect of our
lives, whether it be defending our country in the United States or
abroad.
They are firefighters. I have a story here of an amazing firefighter
who is from Sacramento, California, and was one of the first Dreamers
who became a firefighter. He has now moved on and is pursuing
additional studies so that he can pursue a career in health to serve as
a PA.
{time} 1715
We know that in so many of our areas, we don't have enough doctors
and nurses and PAs and nurse practitioners and, yet, this Dreamer is
engaged in that very area of study.
Over and over again, if we deny the Dreamers their ability to
continue to contribute to our country, we will suffer, whether that be
in the area of health, as we just heard from one of our speakers, from
our chair, or the area of the arts, or as the numerous teachers, the
numerous Dreamers have chosen as their area of expertise and their way
of giving back to teach our youngest.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Garcia) to
share with us what he knows is happening in Illinois with the numerous
Dreamers that live in both his city and in his State.
[[Page H8785]]
Mr. GARCIA of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today with fellow
members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus because we are running out
of time to save the DACA program. We can save the program through
congressional action in the waning days of this Congress.
Since 2012, DACA has created a glimpse of hope. DACA provides
temporary legal status to thousands of people who know no other country
than ours in the United States. They are our teachers, our nurses, our
firefighters, our friends, our neighbors, and our loved ones.
Let's be clear: 75 percent of the American people support DACA. We
know it strengthens our economy and makes us a better country, and both
Republicans and Democrats agree.
Still, the program has faced multiple court challenges, and if we
don't do something to save it, the program will end.
We need to save the DACA program, not only because it grows our
economy, but because it is simply the right thing to do.
Let me tell Yesenia's story.
When it became time for a driver's license in high school, Yesenia's
teacher forced her to provide a Social Security card, even though he
knew Yesenia was undocumented and did not plan to get a license and had
no real need to bring a Social Security card to class.
When Yesenia was unable to produce a Social Security card, a
classmate mocked her saying, ``she can't bring it because she's
illegal.'' Yesenia nearly broke down in tears.
Thanks to DACA, Yesenia was afforded a stability she has never known,
no longer carrying the fear of being deported or separated from her
family.
Or think about Elizeth. She would wake up at 3:30 a.m. every day to
prepare tamales and sell them before hurrying to school. She did this
through elementary and middle school.
Classmates belittled Elizeth, calling her ``la tamalera.'' Like
Yesenia, Elizeth applied for DACA when the program was created.
Eventually, Elizeth saved enough by selling tamales to pay her way
through college. This is what they do. This is who they are.
Both Elizeth and Yesenia are my constituents; and to my colleagues in
the Senate, DACA recipients are your constituents too.
Every DACA recipient has a story of homes lost and new homes found,
stories of growing up, stories of pain and perseverance that demand
action.
Ending DACA will shatter the lives of nearly 2 million people in our
country brought here as children; and it will hurt their families as
well. It will separate families and tear communities apart.
The stakes could not be higher. The end of DACA would uproot the
lives of 600,000 DACA recipients, in addition to the more than 1.3
million migrants eligible for the program.
Aside from the fact that DACA recipients pay almost $10 billion in
taxes each year; aside from the fact that more than 200,000 DACA
recipients across the country stepped up for us as frontline workers
during the pandemic; our obligation to save DACA, above all else, is a
moral one. It is about who we are as a country.
The House has done its job. We passed the American Dream and Promise
Act, and now we need the Senate to act on it. It is time to step up,
save DACA, and codify it through congressional action.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. I thank the gentleman for sharing the economic
impacts of DACA recipients because we need to highlight that; that any
opposition to the American Dream and Promise Act is not based on the
benefits it brings to our country because the economic benefits are
amazing, so I appreciate the fact that the gentleman raised it.
The gentleman said how much taxes are paid. Households with DACA
recipients pay $5.6 billion in Federal taxes and $3.1 billion in State
and local taxes every single year. They create lots of after-tax income
that leads to economic activity in the communities that they come from.
In fact, the importance of DACA and our Dreamers is so great that on
October 20, 80 major businesses and trade associations wrote to
congressional leaders in support of a bipartisan American Dream and
Promise Act. The letter was signed by, among others, the National
Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, Microsoft, Amazon, and many, many more because we
know that Dreamers are essential to our economy.
What would happen if we let DACA die? If we let DACA die, an average
of 1,000 Dreamers will lose their jobs each week in labor markets
already experiencing shortages, such as healthcare, education, service
industries, food production, and more because they would lose their
jobs as their ability to renew would disappear. So every week, we would
lose that.
It is like a drum, a drum, a drumbeat toward financial trouble when
we already need to address the need for more workers in our country. We
would lose the benefit that they develop for our economy; $400 billion
in economic benefit if we pass the American Dream and Promise Act,
because we need to say, we are not just trying to save DACA, we
actually want DACA to end because we are going to replace with the
American Dream and Promise Act. We are looking for the American Dream
and Promise Act because that ends DACA the way it should; not by death
to a core that doesn't understand the benefit of this, but to the
codification to give our Dreamers the path to citizenship they deserve.
That is why we are calling upon the Senate. We are asking to have--
all of the Democrat Senators presently support the American Dream and
Promise Act. So what we are looking for is 10 Republican Senators to
join with the Chamber of Commerce, to join with the trade associations,
to join with the people across this country, to join with their own
constituents, with their own constituents.
I think we need to remember the amount of Republicans who supported
the Dream and Promise Act in the 1970s. It is what our constituents
want us to do. It is what the Senate constituents want them to do, from
whatever State you are in.
We must ask the Senate to take action now. Let's codify this. Let's
not punt down the road any more times. Let's actually pass the American
Dream and Promise Act. Everybody wants it because we know without it,
the consequences are dire.
I also want to remind everybody that many of these Dreamers are in
mixed-status households, as we say. The Dreamers live with their
children, if they are old enough, who are citizens; they live with
spouses who may be citizens and legal residents; and they provide for
the families at the same time that they are providing for our
communities. They are providing for their families.
They come from many, many countries, not just Latin American
countries. If you will notice up here, I cannot read it, but Koreans--
we have many, many DACA recipients who speak Korean.
We have DACA recipients who speak all of the different languages of
our world because they come from the many countries of our world to the
United States. They have been brought here; and, once here, we have to
remember the Dream and Promise Act has been introduced time and time
again.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, was put in place as
a placeholder so that we could pass the American Dream and Promise Act.
The placeholder is calling upon us now to act. The placeholder must be
replaced with the American Dream and Promise Act so that our children,
those who will lead us up and will lead great lives in our community
can find that path to citizenship.
So that is what we are asking our colleagues in the Senate to do. We
sent you this bill months and months ago. You saw this bill in the
115th, 116th, and 117th Congress, and now it is time to pass it; now or
never because we cannot wait. We cannot wait for the courts to act
because Congress' duty is to act. Our duty is to see a problem and take
action to correct it.
In Jeremiah 29:11 God's plan for us is not to suffer, but to have
prosperity, hope, and a future. Our job in Congress is to create that
prosperity, hope, and a future. This bill, the American Dream and
Promise Act, has accomplished that plan to create prosperity, hope, and
a future for those who have come and lived in our communities from the
youngest of age. So, we call upon the Senate to act.
[[Page H8786]]
On behalf of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I am proud to stand
with my colleagues who stood here and spoke in favor of passing the
American Dream and Promise Act because, make no mistake: The DACA
program is the result of the failure of Congress to live up to its
obligation to create that prosperity, hope, and a future.
We need the DACA kids to continue their education. We need those who
have been in this country from a very young age to be able to assert
and have the protections of those who are presently enrolled in DACA.
Dreamers have been raised and educated here. They work in our
communities. They raise their families. They attend our colleges. They
serve in our military. They die for the country and the home that they
have known.
We now ask Congress, we ask the Senate Republicans to hear those
dreams and to pass the American Dream and Promise Act in whatever
vehicle it must be. We urge them to consider including it in the
omnibus, to include it in the NDAA, but to pass it.
General Leave
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks and include extraneous material on this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bowman). Is there objection to the
request of the gentlewoman from New Mexico?
There was no objection.
Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 600,000 DACA
recipients who are terrified that a forthcoming court ruling will force
them to leave the only country they've lived in and loved.
These young men and women came to the U.S. as newborns and small
children. They've attended American schools, served in the U.S.
military, and they contribute their multitude of talents to our
nation's economy every day.
Despite having built their lives here, DACA recipients live with fear
that their legal status will be ripped away from them by a disastrous
court decision. They've lived with this uncertainty for over a decade,
and they deserve a permanent solution.
I'm proud to have voted for the Dream Act which offers a pathway to
citizenship for Dreamers. The legislation passed the House with a
bipartisan vote last year and is supported by the faith community,
business leaders, law enforcement, and over two-thirds of the American
people.
Despite being supported by a large majority of Americans, Senate
Republicans have repeatedly blocked the Dream Act, forcing the lives of
Dreamers to remain in limbo. This is unacceptable. Denying basic
protections to these brave young men and women dishonors our proud
heritage as a nation of immigrants.
Dreamers are Americans in all but name. They've been subjected to the
cruelty of our broken immigration system for far too long, and it's
time for Congress to live up to our promise to protect the Dreamers so
that they can continue to strengthen and enrich our Nation.
____________________