[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ELEONOR VELASQUEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 10, 2007

  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize Eleonor 
Velasquez, an intelligent and hard-working woman who has been on my 
staff from June 2003 until August 2007. During her tenure in my office, 
Eleonor was an asset to me and the constituents of the 32nd District of 
California. Eleonor's hard work, dedication, and skills are the reasons 
why I promoted her twice during her time in the office: from staff 
assistant to legislative correspondent in 2004 and from legislative 
correspondent to legislative assistant in March 2005.
  Eleonor immigrated to the United States from Peru when she was just 
13 years old. Her experience as a young woman assimilating to the 
United States provided her an invaluable perspective on issues such as 
immigration, education, trade, and Latino issues. Eleonor's fluency in 
Spanish has been of great service to my office since over half of my 
constituents do not speak English as their first language at home.
  Eleonor has demonstrated a keen grasp of the complex issues involved 
in the ongoing immigration debate in the House of Representatives. 
Eleonor coordinated a number of sign-on letters and drafted Dear 
Colleague letters about immigration, trade, and education. Recently, 
Eleonor drafted a letter to President Bush expressing deep 
disappointment regarding the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' 
(USCIS) increased fee structure for naturalization and asking him to 
work with Congress to create a fairer system.
  During her time in my office, Eleonor spearheaded two pieces of 
legislation: H. Res. 721 (109th Congress), a resolution supporting the 
goals and ideals of a Salvadoran-American Day (El Dia del Salvadoreno); 
and H.R. 5161 (109th Congress), a bill to establish a commission to 
study the removal of Mexican-Americans to Mexico during 1929-1941. H. 
Res. 721 recognized all Salvadoran-Americans for their hard work, 
dedication, and contribution to the stability and well-being of the 
United States, and was co-sponsored by 55 Members of Congress. The 
resolution was passed by the House of Representatives on July 18, 2006. 
H.R. 5161 was not considered in the 109th Congress, but its 
introduction was very important to the families of the 2 million 
individuals of Mexican ancestry who were forcibly removed to Mexico 
during the Depression, as many as 1.2 million of whom were United 
States citizens.
  As the liaison in my office to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus 
(CHC), Eleonor has gained a wealth of institutional knowledge about 
issues important to the Caucus over the past 4 years. Eleonor began her 
tenure on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 
(CHCI) fellow in the office of Congressman Jose Serrano. She has been 
an active member of the CHCI alumni association and mentored other 
Latino young men and women who came through the program to work on 
Capitol Hill and in the private sector on public policy issues.
  While I am sad to see Eleonor leave, I am confident that the future 
will bring her much success. I wish Eleonor and her family good health 
and best wishes. I join my staff in my Washington, DC, El Monte, and 
East Los Angeles offices in wishing Eleonor the best of luck in all of 
her future endeavors. Buena suerte, Eleonor!

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