Speech #1090139022

Yes. in this post9/11 era America must enforce its borders. There are people who wish to come here to do us harm. and we must vigilantly guard against them. spend whatever it takes. devote as much manpower to the task as necessary. But we must also find some way to separate those who have come here for the same reasons every immigrant has come here from those who are driven here by their hate for us and our ideals. We must concentrate our resources on the latter and persuade the former to come out from the shadows. We wont be able to persuade them if all we offer is a guarded escort back to the place of hopelessness and injustice that they have fled. Why not say to those undocumented workers who are working the jobs the rest of us refuse: Come out from the shadows. earn your citizenship in this country. You broke the law to come here. so you must go to the back of the line. pay a fine. stay employed. learn our language. pay your taxes. obey our laws. and earn the right to be an American. SSgt Riayen Tejada immigrated to .New York from the Dominican Republic. He came with two dreams. he said. to become an American citizen and to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps. He willingly accepted the obligations of American citizenship before he possessed all the rights of an American. Staff Sergeant Tejada. from Washington Heights by way of the Dominican Republic. father of two young daughters. died in an ambush on May 14. 2004. He had never fulfilled his first dream. to become a naturalized American citizen. But he loved this country so much that he gave his life to defend her. Right now. at this very moment. there are fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan soldiers whose parents are not yet American citizens but who have dreamed the dream that their sons and daughters risked their lives to defend. They should make us proud to be Americans. These people have come for the very same reason immigrants have always come to America. They came to grasp the lowest rung of the ladder. and they intend to rise. Let them rise. Let them rise. We will be better for it. For Americablessed. bountiful. beautiful Americais still the land of hope and opportunity. the land of the immigrants dreams. Long may she remain so. I yield the remainder of my time.