[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.

                          ____________________