Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about two very honorable
lives, Paul Besaw and Lahiri Garcia, who were both taken from us far
too soon by the criminal acts of one who was illegally in our country. A death of our innocent neighbors is especially devastating when it
could have been prevented had our immigration laws been upheld and had
they been working. Paul and Lahiri were paramedics in my community, dedicated to saving
lives, but on January 1, a man illegally in our country, driving drunk,
collided with their ambulance and killed both of them. Paul left behind his loving wife, Dawn, and his 6-year-old daughter,
Allison, who you see here behind me. When I spoke with Paul's widow,
she rightfully said that if our country wasn't ``too afraid or inept to
enforce immigration law,'' her husband would still be with her today,
and she is absolutely right. Lahiri's wife, Julie Garcia, told me how hard it was for her four
children to not have their father this Father's Day. She expected to
grow old with her husband, but because this man wasn't sent home the
first three times he was pulled over, she will no longer have that
opportunity.
Keywords matched
immigration