[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            PROTECTING DACA

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the 800,000 
DREAMers in our Nation, 200,000 in my State of California.
  Now, these DREAMers are students, entrepreneurs, volunteers, and 
neighbors. They go to school, they work, and they pay taxes. They are 
young men and women like my constituent, Karem, a DREAMer who recently 
graduated from the University of California at Berkeley.
  Karem now works as a paralegal, helping people like herself navigate 
our complicated immigration system. Karem came to America when she was 
only 3 years old.
  In a message to my office, she wrote: ``The United States is all I've 
ever known.''
  I have to tell you, she is as American as I am. Forcing Karem or any 
hardworking DREAMer out of this country or back into the shadows is 
heartless and un-American. This is her home.
  Deporting DREAMers from the only country they have ever known is an 
extreme betrayal of our values. We care about family values. Ending 
DACA breaks families up.
  Let me be clear: Now President Trump has turned his back on these 
innocent young people. Now it is up to Congress to have the courage to 
do the right thing. I call on Speaker Ryan to bring up the bipartisan 
and bicameral Dream Act now.

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