[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 17978-17979]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     SHARING STORIES IN SUPPORT OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE GARCIA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 21, 2013

  Mr. GARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share the stories of 65 
Floridians whose lives have been profoundly impacted by this House's 
lack of action on immigration reform. The vast majority of Floridians, 
like the vast majority of Americans, support comprehensive immigration 
reform that creates a path to citizenship, secures our borders, and 
grows our economy.
  These stories, collected by the ACLU of Florida, the Florida 
Immigrant Coalition, and other coalition groups from the ``Say Yes'' to 
Citizenship Campaign, were originally in Spanish, have been edited for 
length, and have had the names removed so that individuals who had been 
afraid to speak up could speak freely.
  Whether we consider H.R. 15, which I introduced, or another vehicle, 
we cannot afford to wait any longer. I urge my colleagues to listen to 
these stories and recognize the real human consequences of our 
inaction.

       Story 1: I met my husband in Colombia. He was on vacation 
     and he was American. We fell in love and we married in 
     Colombia. When I got pregnant, we moved here to the United 
     States because he wanted his son to grow up here. That was 
     twenty years ago. We have three kids from our marriage. After 
     my husband passed away I had to find a job. My English was 
     minimal and I didn't have any family around to help. I was 
     cleaning houses in the beginning, and I worked for UPS for 
     six years. I left UPS and tried to follow my dad's career. He 
     was a jeweler in Colombia, so I got a job with a local 
     pawnshop in Jacksonville. I worked for them for four years, 
     but I got in trouble for purchasing stolen merchandise and 
     because of my knowledge--they said I should have known about 
     it being stolen. The items were no more than a thousand 
     dollars, but they split the items and charged me five times. 
     I served four days of jail, four months of home arrest, and 
     nine months of probation. After a year of my life being on 
     hold and not being able to work and not knowing how to 
     support my kids, I was obligated to plead guilty so I could 
     keep going on with my life. I was very blessed and lucky to 
     find a job where they got to know me and see what kind of 
     person I am. I have been with them for one and a half years, 
     and I have been promoted a couple of times. I flew to 
     Columbia a year ago and when I came back, I was stopped by 
     immigration in the airport and questioned about what 
     happened. They told me that, because of the incident and 
     leaving the county and coming back, they were going to start 
     the procedure of deportation. They removed my green card and 
     gave me a temporary green card for one year and I was to hear 
     about what was going to happen. I've been in this country all 
     my life. I worked in this county all my life. I have three 
     American kids. I have a dead American husband. I think I'm 
     American. I made the mistake of trusting someone and paid the 
     consequences. I think we deserve another chance.
       Story 2: I was born in Brazil. I came at the age of 14. I 
     am a DREAM Act student. When I first arrived in the U.S., I 
     learned about the importance of freedom. I learned what it 
     meant to be an American. For me, those American ideals are 
     really important. When I decided I was going to marry the 
     person I love and decided to share the rest of my life with, 
     I also wanted to fight for our right to be fully recognized 
     in this county. I am an undocumented immigrant, but my spouse 
     is a U.S. citizen. The only difference between us and the 
     rest of our peers is the fact that we are in a same sex 
     relationship. The inclusion of the Uniting American Families 
     Act will protect our family from deportation and also our 
     general well-being. When we saw that Senator Rubio and others 
     specifically spoke against our family we felt that not all 
     families were included in immigration reform. It was 
     extremely outrageous to us to see the Uniting American 
     Families Act fail in the Judiciary Committee last week. We 
     hope that Senator Rubio will speak on behalf of the entire 
     state of Florida, people like me, and also the 67% of Florida 
     voters who support the inclusion of same sex couples in 
     immigration reform.
       Story 3: I'm an immigrant rights activist and I have been 
     one for the past five years. I absolutely say yes to 
     citizenship for the eleven million undocumented immigrants 
     living in this country. I feel it's imperative that the 
     government finally takes care of this issue after so many 
     years. For example in my case, I have been living here for 
     twenty-three years, but have been undocumented from the age 
     of two. Right now I want to legalize my status so I can 
     become an architect, finally realize my dream of becoming a 
     citizen, and do my best in giving back to this country--the 
     only country that I really know.
       Story 4: I came here from the Bahamas a year and a half ago 
     searching for a better life and to further my education and 
     athletic career. I graduated senior high school at the age of 
     sixteen, and I am now eighteen. Because of my immigration 
     status I was unable to continue and further my education. 
     I've had scholarships to the top schools but was unable to 
     obtain them because of my immigration status, which put part 
     of my life on hold. I am saying yes to citizenship so I can 
     be a voice not only for myself, but also for the students 
     that stand in my shoes.
       Story 5: I'm twenty-five years old and from West Palm 
     Beach, Florida. I've lived here my whole life, and I'm the 
     second oldest of seven children. All me and my brothers and 
     sisters are U.S. citizens. We were all born here in the 
     United States. My dad is Guatemalan--he is an immigrant. And 
     my mom is Salvadoran--she is also an immigrant. They 
     immigrated to the United States about twenty-five years ago. 
     About seven years ago my mom and my dad were both deported at 
     the same time, on the same day. I was a senior in high 
     school. I remember the day clearly. I said goodbye to both my 
     mom and my dad like a normal day. I knew they were going to 
     immigration court but I never thought that I would never see 
     them again. That was the last day I saw them. My dad owned 
     his own company in which he paid taxes. We had everything 
     that we wanted growing up because my dad worked hard and was 
     able to own his own business. When my mom and dad were 
     deported we lost the house that he bought. With the house he 
     lost the business, and with the business we pretty much lost 
     everything. It was up to me and my older sister to pretty 
     much provide everything for my younger brothers and sisters. 
     From that point on, I was no longer a normal high school 
     student. I became a father of six, pretty much. My life 
     changed completely. I had high hopes of one day playing 
     collegiate soccer and hopefully maybe even one day playing 
     professional soccer, but those dreams were shattered when my 
     parents were deported. There was a moment when some of my 
     brothers and sisters were actually homeless due to the fact 
     that we lost the company, we lost my parents, and we lost the 
     house. So we did live on the streets. We lived at hotels 
     sometimes. It completely destroyed my family. Two years ago 
     my mom was actually killed due to the violence that people 
     flee the country for. The first time I saw my mom since the 
     day that she was deported from this country in five years was 
     in her coffin for her funeral. That was the first time I ever 
     saw my mom. I never got the chance to hug my mom or kiss my 
     mom or say ``hi'' to my mom ever again. She was never a 
     criminal. She never even got a speeding ticket. Now I live 
     here with my brothers and sisters, and we get by however we 
     can. Obviously things are rough. Things are hard, but we're 
     getting through it. It saddens me every day to know that the 
     fact that my parents were deported broke a happy family, a 
     truly happy family that's no longer together and will no 
     longer ever be happy. If I had one goal, one mission in my 
     life, it's to prevent other children, other kids, other 
     families from going through what I went through.

[[Page 17979]]

       Story 6: I live in Auburndale, Florida. I was undocumented. 
     I want to say yes to citizenship because it's a very 
     important thing for immigration reform to happen. We've been 
     promised immigration reform for years since Obama's first 
     term in office and he did not go through with that promise, 
     though he did pass the action for childhood arrivals a couple 
     months before his reelection. I was undocumented for many 
     years until my wife is able to fix my status but my 
     legalization does not mean that I can stop fighting for other 
     undocumented people. I have family and friends who are still 
     in the shadows, who are willing to come out, and who I want 
     to come out to better themselves.
       Story 7: I'm saying yes to Congress supporting a path to 
     citizenship. Many of us have stories. My story is this: my 
     mom brought me here when I was six months old and it's not 
     her fault, it's nobody's fault. By the age of 13 I started 
     helping them in the fields and I learned and went to school 
     and everything. After school I would go straight to the 
     fields to help out my mom because she needed help. I want to 
     see a path to citizenship because I want to see everybody 
     have opportunities in life.
       Story 8: My family actually immigrated 200 years ago. My 
     great great grandfather was a stowaway from Germany and a 
     German Jew. I really love it here in Florida. I really see 
     how the immigrant community has enriched our community. I 
     worry that increasingly we are being hostile to immigrants 
     because they look a little different from the immigrants that 
     have come here from the past instead of realizing how much 
     they enrich the place. I think we need to continue to be a 
     country that welcomes people just like it has with my great 
     great grandfather.
       Story 9: I'm from Argentina, and I've been here for 30 
     years. I came to this country looking for a better future. I 
     have two American children and the greatest fear I have is 
     being separated from them. I have been threatened with 
     separation from my children and all that I ask the 
     congressmen and senators is to pass immigration reform with a 
     path to citizenship in order to give a better future for my 
     children and to fulfill my dreams in this country.
       Story 10: I think it's important what we're doing today 
     because the people are of value, they are an asset to our 
     community and we need them. None of us would be here if it 
     wasn't for the immigrants. We all come from that. It's 
     important that they're allowed to be here so they can add to 
     our economy. And they're not taking jobs. They're doing the 
     jobs that no one wants to do. I'm an American, born and 
     raised, and I'm in total support of it. I think the 
     government needs to look at our immigration system and make 
     it user-friendly to become a citizen because right now it's 
     not user-friendly. It's too expensive and too much paperwork 
     and too much red tape. Let's get down to the brass tacks and 
     do it right. And do it in a quick manner. We can do it and 
     the government knows how to do it. Let's just do it.
       Story 11: I'm here because I have a lot of friends that I 
     go to school with who can't go to school because of tuition 
     hikes in our state. I'm in this club Students Working for 
     Equal Rights, and our president right now is in Georgia 
     because her boyfriend got arrest for driving without a 
     license. Of course, if you're not documented you can't get a 
     license, and if you're undocumented and get arrested, you'll 
     constantly live in fear of being deported. I've just seen 
     this problem escalate, and I'm here to make sure I help that 
     in any way that I can. I want to see immigration get reformed 
     because there are a lot of people that play by the rules and 
     work really hard. They want to raise their kids or do 
     anything any other decent person wants to do, but they're 
     denied the basic opportunities most Americans take for 
     granted.
       Story 12: I say yes to a path to citizenship because it 
     would mean brightness where darkness has been for many people 
     for a long time. Undocumented immigrants face many injustices 
     and abuses. They fear getting stopped by a police officer and 
     standing up for themselves. I'm here because I'm not directly 
     affected, but my friends and family are and I want to stand 
     up for my people. I want to stand up with all the 
     organizations that are fighting for justice.