[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9000-9001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1700
                         HECTOR BARAJAS-VARELA

  (Ms. BARRAGAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. BARRAGAN. Madam Speaker, veterans shouldn't have to come home in 
a body bag to be recognized as Americans.
  Last weekend, I went, along with some of my colleagues, to Tijuana, 
Mexico, where we visited veterans who have served this country, who 
have picked up a weapon to go and fight in war to protect our freedoms. 
They survived, came home, and some of them were deported.

[[Page 9001]]

  Do you know that if you go and you fight overseas and you are not a 
citizen and you die, you get automatic citizenship?
  One of those people we saw this weekend is my constituent, Hector 
Barajas, from Compton. This is a photo of him. He was proudly still 
wearing his uniform. He was deported to Mexico after serving 5\1/2\ 
years in the U.S. Army, receiving two commendations.
  I am proud to cosponsor H.R. 1405, which would allow noncitizen 
veterans who have been deported to come home and come back to the 
United States. I hope that he gets to come back, too.

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