[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4733]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       DEFENDING LEGAL IMMIGRANTS

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I also rise in disappointment at the action 
that will take place today on the floor, and that is to instruct 
conferees on the farm bill to remove the provision of food stamps for 
legal immigrants.
  We talk about legal immigrants. Let us really put a face to it. Let 
us look at who these people are. They serve in our wars; they are 
serving in the military. Many of them are grandparents, many are 
children. They are here legally. They are playing by the rules. Their 
families pay into the tax base.
  The President has said he wants to honor them and give them food 
stamps; but his own party, the Republican Party, wants to take that 
away. We are sending mixed messages here, and I would hope we could 
unite around this whole concept of compassionate giving to people who 
earn their way here in the country.
  I would ask that the conferees and everyone please take hold of this 
situation, address it, and help to feed the children, the hungry 
children, in our districts. Right now in my own district there are 
about 37 percent immigrant families. Of that, those kids do not have 
enough to have food on their table. They do not have cereal. They did 
not have a banana. They did not have milk today, like you and I may 
have had.
  Let us make sure we do our best to defend those children.

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