Daca

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. RUIZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today as chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, as a father of these two beautiful daughters, Sky and Sage, to call on the Senate to act now for Dreamers.

This October, the Fifth Circuit Court ruled that the DACA program is unlawful and set the stage for this incredibly successful and popular program to be struck down by the conservative courts in Texas.

If Congress does not act by the end of this year, the future of thousands of Dreamers will be on the line.

Dreamers like Juan Vasquez from my district--in fact, from Mecca-- who, as a senior in high school, was detained by ICE while working in the fields as a farmworker with his parents to help them pay the bills.

After taking him under my wing, as a pre-med student Juan graduated top of his class from UC Berkeley and finished top of his class at UC San Francisco School of Medicine. Now he saves lives. He saves American lives. He saves fathers, mothers, children, daughters, sons, and grandparents every day as an emergency medicine resident in New York City. I think I had some influence, being an emergency physician myself and mentoring him in that path.

If DACA ends, Juan and hundreds of thousands of others will lose their jobs--impacting labor market sectors already experiencing shortages, such as healthcare, education, service industries, food production, and more.

If DACA ends, our economy would lose more than a quarter of a trillion in lost GDP over the next decade. If DACA ends, prices will go up.

If DACA ends, we will see dire and insurmountable ripple effects across our communities and local economies.

For the sake of doing what is right and good and just, and for the sake of our economy and for the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who call our Nation home and have known no other home, I call on the Senate Republicans to join in good-faith negotiations to find a permanent solution for Dreamers based on the House-passed American Dream and Promise Act. Use it as the framework.

Madam Speaker, I urge every Member of this body, Republicans and Democrats, to join the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in advocating for a bipartisan DACA deal to be included in the end-of-year omnibus package.

We absolutely must deliver peace of mind for Dreamers and their families. Keep their families together and create opportunity for our economy. The time to act is now. The time of urgency is now.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership for being vice chair of communications for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus because your voice is powerful, your voice carries on, your voice is a voice of true leadership that will continue and be generational.

I appreciate this Special Hour to advocate for our Dreamers and to protect DACA.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Ruiz for bringing Sky and Sage to the floor of the House today, because as we look at these beautiful, intelligent, curious children--and curious is one of the best things to be, you know, because that means you are curious about the world around you--they are the age of many of our DACA recipients who came with their parents. Their parents made the choice and the children came with them. This is the only home many of the DACA recipients have ever known.

What have they done in this home?

They have brought so many of us joy. They have helped make our schools vibrant. They are caring for our children, for your children, as doctors, teachers, nurses, and accountants. They are in all walks of life. Some of them choose to go into accountancy.

We have the stories here, numerous, from every State and every district, of those who chose to apply for DACA protections.

Right now we know that because of the Fifth Circuit decision that declared DACA unlawful, that these hundreds of young Dreamers and families are afraid for their futures. We must act.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Correa).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source