Celebrating the DREAMers
Floor Speech
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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman O'Rourke for yielding. You are too kind in your compliments. I give them right back to you. We have worked together on many things, including veterans and public lands, and now this very pressing issue of what we can do to protect our DREAMers.
Since the election, my office has just been deluged by phone calls from the DACA recipients, those we call DREAMers, from their friends, and from their family. They are afraid. You can just hear the fear in their voice. They are just calling to ask questions: Will I be deported? Will my friends be deported? Will my family be separated? Will I lose my house? Will I lose my job? Will I lose my scholarship? Should I apply for DACA? Should I apply to renew DACA? Or should I just keep my head down and hope that they don't notice that I am here?
It just tears your heart out. That is one of the reasons that in my district, in Las Vegas, we held a round table, not a town hall. We started with those organizations who help DREAMers. We had Catholic charities; we had the university, UNLV; we had other institutions of higher education; we had the Latin Chamber; and we had the Mexican and the Salvadoran Consulate all gathered around the table because we don't know how to answer those questions. We wanted to be sure we were all on the same page, giving people the same advice, and reassuring them that whatever happens, we will be there for them. That helps a little, but still you want to be able to say: This is what you are facing.
I know I am not the only one getting these calls. They are coming from kitchens and living rooms and restaurants and stores and families all across this country, as you have heard from some of the other speakers here tonight. For our DREAMers and their families, this fear and anxiety will continue to grow. I am afraid they are just going to return to the shadows if we don't act soon to responsibly reform our immigration system.
Now, as yet, we have heard very little from the Trump transition team about what is actually going to happen to the DREAMers once President Obama leaves office.
Will they round up people and send them back? Will they build that wall?
We don't know. But what we do know is that Mr. Sessions has been appointed as Attorney General, who has a very long record of opposing comprehensive immigration reform, actually railing against it; and that is not a very good sign.
After months of just disgraceful campaign rhetoric speeches that denigrate immigrants, Trump and his team now have to really deal with the gravity of the situation. I would suggest, to begin with, they should acquaint themselves with some of the young men and women who have been able to go to work, go to school, contribute to the tax base, contribute to society and our culture, like those that Mr. O'Rourke mentioned, because they had that protection of DACA.
Instead of demoralizing and degrading them, they should take the time to learn about people like Brenda Romero. Brenda is a young DREAMer who interned in my office this past summer. She is one of 12,000 DREAMers in Nevada. She is not a rapist and she is not a drug dealer. She is a high school graduate and the first immigrant to be the student body president of a small college in my home State. She is now pursuing a law degree.
Brenda was brought to the United States from Mexico when she was just 2 years old. Like so many of the over 700,000 DREAMers, she didn't really have any choice in that decision. She has had a choice about her life, and she has made the most of it, like so, so many DREAMers, including another dreamer from Las Vegas who many of you have seen on television, an amazing national spokeswoman for this campaign for DREAMers, Astrid Silva.
They have contributed, and they inspire me. That is the reason I am joining the gentleman here tonight to talk about their stories, and they are the reason that I will continue to be on the front line--to fight to make this country a better place for them so they, in turn, can make it a better place for all of us.
I want you to go out and meet these people. I want you to sit down with them eye to eye. I call on all of my colleagues to do that. Hear their stories, and you will understand just how remarkable they are. They will make you feel very proud, and you will find that you have more in common with them and their families than you have apart.
We are not a country that should alienate immigrants. We are a country that is characterized by the Statue of Liberty: give me your tired, your poor, your hungry, those yearning to be free. Surely, we can't forget that kind of history and heritage that we have of welcoming immigrants with open arms. We are not a country that should be tearing families apart. As we stand here tonight on the floor of the House, I would just ask you to make that effort to get to know the DREAMers in your community. Hear their stories, and I think you will agree with me just how remarkable they are.
So I thank the gentleman for letting me speak. Count on me to continue this fight. I think, if we can't get comprehensive immigration reform done in the short term, let's at least protect those DREAMers who already have that status so that they don't have to live in fear.
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