[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
   CONGRATULATING MARIA CONTRERAS ON BECOMING A UNITED STATES CITIZEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, as we begin our debate here in 
this country on the issue of immigration, I think it is important that 
we remind ourselves of the literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands 
of immigrants who obeyed the law and who entered this country the right 
way.
  I rise today to speak of one such individual who is illustrative of 
the many immigrants that we openly welcome into this country. I wish to 
speak about one of my newest constituents, one of the newest citizens 
in this country, Maria Contreras.
  Maria was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and entered this country legally 
14 years ago. Three years after that she met and married her husband, 
also a legal immigrant, and to this union has been blessed two 
beautiful daughters, one 11, one a year and a half. About 4 years into 
the marriage, Maria's husband became a citizen of the United States. It 
was he that insisted and encouraged Maria to go on that same path.
  A couple of years ago this couple bought a home on a quiet street in 
a northern Utah city, Brigham City. They went to work on the yard, 
planting flowers, trimming the trees in the back. They worked on the 
home doing some painting, repairing the roof. Both of them did this 
work after putting in a full day at their regular occupation. They even 
brought back souvenirs for their neighbors from their family trips. I 
know their neighbors in Brigham City found this family to be a pleasure 
and a welcomed addition to the neighborhood, and I can say this because 
the Contreras family is my next door neighbors. We share the same 
driveway.
  It was a thrill for me one day while working in the yard to have 
Maria and her daughter come over and ask me some questions about 
government as she was now studying for her citizenship test.
  On January 27 of this year, this test was administered to her in her 
second language of English. I am proud to say she passed it perfectly, 
getting 100 percent correct on this particular test. Many of my 
students I taught in high school, taking that same test in their native 
language, would be hard-pressed to have that same kind of score. In 
fact, it is probably wise that Members of Congress are not administered 
that same particular test as well.
  On March 21, 2007, a great day for the Contreras family, Maria was 
sworn in as a new citizen of the United States. Maria did it the legal 
way, and as we talk about ways of limiting illegal entrance into this 
country, it is important also to remember that we should be mindful of 
ways of making it easier for people to legally enter into this country 
as well.
  The Contreras people have the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that we 
want to welcome into this country, that builds this country and makes 
it better for all of us. As Maria said, It is great to be here. I love 
it here. It is a better life with more opportunities.
  So I am very pleased today, Madam Speaker, to welcome a great 
neighbor, a new American, hopefully I can convince her to be a voter, 
because I am very proud of the price she paid to do things the right 
way, to become a new citizen in this new land. I congratulate Maria 
Contreras and the entire family as they enter into this new situation 
and for what they have done and the commitments that they have made. I 
am very proud of them all.

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