    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [June 8, 2006]
    [Pages 1100-1104]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast
    June 8, 2006

        Thank you very much, Luis. Thanks for
    your introduction. Right before we came in, I said, ``Luis, how's your
    school doing?'' See, I got to first know Luis when I went into inner-
    city Philadelphia, and he said, ``I'm starting a school.'' I said,
    ``How's your

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    school doing?'' He said, ``Oh, pretty good.'' He said, ``Last year, we
    had 69 of the 70 graduates from our school go to college.''
        Luis's school is doing better than
    pretty good; it's doing great. And we hold out hope to some kid, you
    know, that it's amazing what results we can achieve in a society when
    you raise the bar and you say, ``I have hope for you; I love you.'' It's
    amazing what our country can achieve. And so, Luis, thank you very much
    for your leadership, and thanks for having me here at the National
    Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.
        I think it is fitting we come together to recognize the importance
    of prayer and the importance of faith. You see, Americans are a people
    of faith. And for millions of our citizens, prayer is a daily part of
    life. In prayer we give thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon us
    by our Creator. We're blessed with courageous young men and women
    willing to defend us in time of war. We're blessed with a growing
    economy and material prosperity. And we're blessed by the diversity and
    creativity of millions of Hispanic Americans who enrich our great
    country.
        We've got plenty of blessings to give thanks for, and I'm blessed by
    the fact that millions of Americans, many of whom I've never seen face
    to face, pray for me and my family. It's one of the great blessings of
    America, to be President of a land of prayer. So this morning we come
    together to give our thanks for all our blessings and recognize our
    Nation's continuing dependence on Divine Providence.
        I appreciate the sponsors of this breakfast. It's an important
    breakfast. This is a time for us to come together in common purpose to
    say, we're humble enough to be on bended knee. I appreciate my friend
    Attorney General Al Gonzales for joining
    us today. It's good to see you, mi general. The Director of the Peace
    Corps, Gaddi Vasquez--thank you for coming,
    Gaddi. Appreciate you being here. I see Senator Brownback--I think--yes, there he is. [Laughter] I know
    there are other Members of the Senate and the Congress who are here.
    Thank you all for coming today. It's really important that you're here.
    And I know the participants of this breakfast are glad you're here as
    well. I appreciate all the pastors and community leaders who are with us
    here today too. Thanks for coming.
        In America, we are a people who profess many different faiths, with
    some of our citizens embracing no faith at all. In America, all are
    welcome. No citizen stands above another. In America, what unites us all
    is our dedication to freedom, and what brings us together today as men
    and women of faith is our belief that we're all equal and precious in
    the eyes of the Almighty.
        I like to tell people that my job as the President is to promote the
    fact that people are free to worship however you choose. See, that's
    what distinguishes us from the Taliban or Al Qaida, that we're free to
    worship and that we're all equally American. If you're a Christian, Jew,
    or Muslim, you're equally American. If you choose not to worship, you're
    equally American.
        But I've also said, from my personal perspective, I rely upon the
    Almighty for strength and comfort. The daily example of our Hispanic
    communities reminds us that strong faith and strong families can build a
    better future for all. We are more--we're a more hopeful society because
    men and women of Hispanic descent have put their faith and values into
    action.
        More than 200,000 Hispanic Americans serve with courage and honor in
    our military, some of whom are with us today. And we thank you for your
    service. Our Government is enriched and strengthened by the Latinos who
    serve here in Washington, DC. Across America, Hispanic leaders are
    serving on the frontlines of our armies of compassion, reaching out to
    change the lives of brothers and sisters in need, changing this great
    country one heart, one soul at a time.

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        I like to remind people that government can hand out money, but
    government cannot put faith in a person's heart or a sense of purpose in
    a person's life. The best way to strengthen this country is for people
    such as yourself to continue to reach out to a neighbor in need, to
    listen to the universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to
    be loved yourself, to mentor to a child who needs to learn to read, to
    feed the hungry, to provide shelter for the homeless.
        And that's precisely what the leaders in this room do. You're
    inspired by prayer; you move to action. And America is better off when
    you go into our neighborhoods to reach out to those who hurt, to provide
    comfort for those who are sick, to say loud and clear to a brother and
    sister in need, ``We love you, and what can we do to help you?'' On
    behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you for being soldiers in the
    armies of compassion and for making America a hopeful place for more of
    our citizens.
        Speaking about a hopeful place, it is important for us in this
    important debate on immigration to remember that we've always been a
    hopeful nation. We are a land of immigrants. We're a country when
    people--we're a compassionate people. We're also a nation of laws, and
    being a nation of laws is not contradictory with being a compassionate
    country. We can enforce our laws. And we can treat people with respect
    and treat people with dignity and remember our heritage as a nation.
        The immigration system isn't working today, and it needs to be
    fixed. Our borders need to be secure. The American people from all walks
    of life expect the Government to secure our border, and we will do that.
        The system isn't fixed--the system is broken because we've got too
    many citizens, too many people here, too many people living in our
    country, living in the shadows of our society, beyond the reach of the
    law. That's not the America I know. The America I know is one in which
    people are treated with respect; the America I know is one in which when
    we see something broken, we fix it.
        So we'll secure our borders. We'll make sure people who hire people
    illegally pay a fine. But I want our fellow citizens to understand, you
    cannot secure our borders and you cannot be a compassionate society
    unless we provide a legal channel for people to work in America. We've
    got people coming across our borders who want to come and work and put
    food on the table for their families.
        When I was Governor of Texas, I reminded people, family values do
    not stop at the Rio Grande River. There are people who are coming to our
    country who are doing jobs Americans are not doing. And we need a legal
    and orderly system. If we want to enforce the border, we must have a
    system that says, ``You don't have to sneak across our border in order
    to find work. You don't need to risk your life.''
        So therefore, I strongly support and call upon the Congress to
    support the temporary-worker program that says, ``You can come into our
    country legally''--so that we can match willing worker with willing
    employer, doing jobs Americans are not doing--``and you can come for a
    period of time, and you can work, and then you can go home in an orderly
    way as well.''
        The other part of this debate that's really important is what do we
    do with the folks that are here. See, there's a difference between those
    who have newly arrived that are doing work and those who have been here
    for quite a period of time. We've got people in this country who have
    paid their taxes, own a home, whose children are becoming valedictorians
    in high schools and colleges--people have been working hard.
        This debate is--there's a heated debate on this subject here in
    Washington. There are some who say, ``Well, best thing to do is just
    call them citizens right off the bat.'' I disagree with that. It's
    called amnesty. I don't think that would be fair to those who are
    legally here and are waiting in

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    line to become a citizen. You probably know many such citizens. They're
    here legally, and they say, ``We want to be a citizen of your country,''
    and we said, ``Fine, get in line and wait.'' Granting amnesty to those
    folks who have been here illegally would be unfair to those who have
    been here legally. We're a nation of laws, and we must uphold the laws.
        And then there are those here in Washington who say, ``Why don't we
    just find the folks and send them home.'' That isn't going to work.
    That's not a good idea. It sounds simple; it's impractical. There's a
    reasonable middle ground. There's a reasonable way to uphold our laws
    and treat people with respect, and that is this: If you've paid your
    taxes, you've been here for awhile, you can prove that you've been
    working, you've got a clean background; if you want to become a citizen,
    you pay a fine, you learn English, you learn the values and ideals of
    America that have made us one Nation under God. And then if you want to
    be a citizen, you can get in line,but in the back of the line, not the
    front of the line. You can wait in line like those who have been legally
    here in America. We don't have to choose between the extremes. There's a
    rational middle ground.
        I call upon Congress to enact commonsense immigration reform that
    enforces our border, that upholds our laws, that treats people with
    respect, and remembers the greatness of America is the fact that we've
    been able to come from different backgrounds, united under the common
    ideals of our country, and we live one Nation under God.
        For centuries, people have come to this Nation because it is the
    land of promise. It's a place where people can realize their dreams.
    Yesterday I was in Omaha, Nebraska, at a Catholic Charities institute
    that was helping people learn English and learn the ideals of our
    country. I remember walking into a civics class, and the people were
    slightly startled to see the President walk in. I guess it's kind of the
    ultimate civics lesson. [Laughter] But I was proud to be there. I really
    was.
        And we sat down with a group of folks at a table to discuss
    entrepreneurship. And I went around the room asking, how long have you
    been here, and what are you doing? And I remember coming to the
    fellow, Pina--I think his name was Federico
    Pina. He said he started a couple years ago a automobile maintenance
    business. He said it was a dream of his to have his own business. I
    said, ``How's it going?'' He said, ``Well, I've employed three people,
    and I own my own building.'' Here's a man who came to our country with a
    dream, and he's realizing that dream.
        And what our citizens have got to understand is that if you're able
    to maintain a sense of hope in the United States, and people work hard
    to realize that hope, it inspires our Nation as a whole. It lifts our
    spirit. It reinvigorates what America is all about.
        We have a great opportunity here in Washington to remember the
    traditions and history of the United States of America and to uplift
    that sense that America is a welcoming society, a country of law, but a
    country that also says, ``If you work hard and dream big dreams, you can
    realize your dreams.'' And many of those who are in our country who are
    working hard to realize their dreams also rely upon a higher power to
    help them realize those dreams. And so I'm here to say thank you for
    your prayers, thank you for your example, thank you for helping your
    fellow citizens, and thank you for being great citizens of the United
    States of America.
        Que Dios les bendiga.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:08 a.m. at the J.W. Marriott Hotel. In
    his remarks, he referred to Rev. Luis Cortes, Jr., president and chief
    executive officer, Esperanza USA, who introduced the President; and
    Salavador Pina, owner, Pina's Auto Repair in Omaha, NE.

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