Floor Speeches

Last week, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the country, many of whom were in Colorado, picked up the phone and called Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to ask that she delay the deportation of a young man from Miami, Florida, Walter Lara.  Let me tell you a little bit about Walter.

Walter moved to the United States from Argentina when he was three years old and he has never left.  He has dedicated thousands of hours to serving his community, tutoring children in mathematics and computers.  He stood out in high school as an honor student and graduated from Miami-Dade Honors College in 2007.  But instead of following his dreams and pursuing a promising career in computer animation and web design, Walter’s graduation gift was given an imminent deportation order.

Walter was scheduled to be deported over the 4th of July weekend.  But thanks to a week of intense activism by Congressional Leaders, the SEIU, bloggers, and thousands of grassroots activists who made calls and sent letters on Walter Lara’s behalf, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moved to defer 23-year old Lara’s scheduled deportation back an entire year until July 3, 2010.

While I was thrilled to hear that Walter’s deportation had been delayed and that he would be able to stay in the United States, this action alone far from not enough.

What will happen to Walter in 2010 if we don’t pass comprehensive immigration reform?  What does it mean for the hundreds of thousands of Walters throughout the country who came to the United States as children—who excelled in school, played by the rules—only to face deportation?  Despite meeting state residency requirements, immigrant students in most states are charged out-of-state or international tuition rates, which effectively render college inaccessible.  

These kids, Mr. Speaker, are as American as anybody else, but for too long they have had their dreams shattered by an education system that ignores their good grades and hard work.  Educational opportunity is a right, and something that we are all taught in this country that if you work hard and never give up, you can achieve anything.  But the doors to opportunity have been shut for thousands of hard-working students who have been raised and educated in our country.  

Even though Walter was able to stay, the U.S. government deports thousands of students just like Walter and will continue to do so until we pass the DREAM Act as part of comprehensive immigration reform.  The DREAM Act is will ensure that children who have grown up in the United States and studied in American schools can remain here and work, pay taxes, and live in our country.

Under the American DREAM Act, qualified students would be eligible for temporary legal immigration status upon high school graduation that could lead to permanent legal residency if they attend college or serve in the military.

Students like Walter are our greatest natural resource and they should have access to higher education—the key to both individual success and our nation’s economic growth and prosperity.  

I recently had the opportunity to visit and immigrant detention facility in Aurora, CO.  These are young people, people of all ages, who were picked up, they might have broke then speed limit, have might have a taillight out on their car, or been simply have been loitering. And now at taxpayer money, we're putting them up at $120-a-day of our hard earned money, rather than them being out working, paying taxes to reduce our deficits.  

Mr. Speaker, in this era of budget deficits, putting Walter and people like him in a government hotel that taxpayers are paying for at $120-a-day makes absolutely no sense when Walter would rather be out working and paying taxes to help reduce our deficit.  To help the hundreds of thousands of Walters across the country now is the time to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it.  Thank you.