Daca

Floor Speech

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Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be here today, to help highlight the incredible contributions that DACA recipients have made to our country and my district.

There are over 800,000 DACA recipients across the country, and over 200,000 of them live in California.

Today, I want to highlight a very special DREAMER in my district.

A young lady named Mayra Garibo from Wilmington, California.

Mayra's mother brought her and her little brother to the U.S. from Mexico when she was just 7 years old.

When it came time for Mayra to attend college, her mother struggled to find the resources to help pay for her tuition.

But because of DACA, Mayra was able to attend and pay for college, and eventually graduated from California State University Dominguez Hills, with a degree in Business Administration.

With her degree in hand, Mayra was able to pursue her dream of working in content creation, while also having peace in knowing that DACA would protect her against deportation.

In 2017, Mayra unfortunately lost her father, who lived in Mexico.

After a 3 year-long battle, she obtained Advance Parole, and received a travel permit to visit Mexico, to finally visit her father's grave and mourn his passing in-person.

This was the first time in 20 years that Mayra was able to return to Mexico.

Mayra's talent continued to shine through, and her persistence and resilience paid off.

With the help of Advanced Parole, she was able to further her career as a content creator, by seeking life changing job opportunities.

She was able to travel and work in London and other places, where she did content creation for films that were eventually nominated for awards at film festivals.

Mayra now works for the Long Beach Immigration Rights Coalition.

Recently, while taking photos of graduates of the Coalition's Leadership Academy Program, she met and was moved by the story of another young DACA recipient.

Mayra understood their struggle, and realized that she shared a common bond.

Mayra's job has given her the opportunity to capture the stories of those who have struggled to be an immigrant in this country. It has allowed her to change the all-too-common narrative about immigrants, to one that depicts immigrants as resilient and capable of moving forward in difficult situations.

When Mayra returned to the U.S. from her vist to Mexico and Europe, she was met with two signs eact time.

One said U.S. citizens to the right and the other, non-citizens to the left.

When Mayra encountered these signs, she said to herself:

I know I have a permit to re-enter the country, but my reentry is not guaranteed.

I begin to pray to God hoping I say the right things, and that I don't face an officer who isn't going to know what advance parole is.

It's a feeling that is difficult to explain, you know you haven't done anything, yet you have to convince someone to let you into the country that you call your home.''

Mayra is just one of many DREAMERS who have made incredible contributions to our nation.

She hopes that one day, she will be able to step to the right.

The time is now for my Republican colleagues and the Senate to pass legislation that will provide permanent protections for DACA recipients and DREAMERS in this country.

We can't wait any longer.

Because your home is here (Porque su hogar esta aqui). Forever (Para siempre).

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