The United States Represents Hopeful New Beginnings
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Congressional Progressive Caucus vice chair, Congresswoman Ramirez, for hosting this Special Order hour.
I rise today during Immigrant Heritage Month to honor our hardworking immigrant communities and call out the cruel and dangerous actions of the Trump administration.
While communities across America are honoring generations of immigrants who built our Nation, Trump and his administration are choosing fear, cruelty, and division.
This administration is carrying out a mass deportation agenda that is tearing through our communities, our barrios, and our families to target people who have lived in this country for decades, who own businesses, and who are students, leaders, teachers, and nurses in our community.
This administration wants to erase the contributions of immigrants while benefiting from their hard work, innovation, and sacrifices.
Let me remind them: Immigrants are not outsiders. They are the reason America looks the way it does.
I want to highlight Karla Toledo. She was brought to this country at 1 year old. She was violently pulled from her home and put in detention, inhumanely detained for 4 days. She was released on the lowest bond possible, and her charges were dropped.
The day before yesterday, ICE and DHS embarrassed by the spotlight and the black eye, are bringing new charges against her for deportation. We are sick as a community of being scapegoated. We are sick as a people of being scapegoated.
I am the granddaughter of a bracero, a guest worker, a hardworking Mexican immigrant who came to this country seeking opportunity.
I am the daughter of a Member of Congress, who spent his life fighting for immigrants and working families.
The Trump administration can attack immigrants, but they cannot erase their stories. They cannot erase our stories. They cannot erase our contributions, and they cannot erase the truth. Immigrants built this country.
(English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)
``Immigrants are part of our history, past, present, and future.''
``Los inmigrantes son parte de nuestra historia, nuestro presente y nuestro futuro.''
No amount of fear or cruelty will change that.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source