He would
go home, take a shower, and go right back out again. He finally took a
day off and got some rest, and he went back and did it all over again. The important part of this story is that Jesus Contreras is a
paramedic because of the DACA Program, which you have just heard
described on the floor by the Senator from Texas. It was President
Obama's DACA Program that allowed him to stay in the United States,
after having been brought here as a 6-year-old, and to go to school and
become a paramedic. The DACA Program did that because it protected him
from deportation, and it allowed him to legally work here in the United
States as a paramedic. It was only because of DACA that this young man
was able to step up and be part of that huge group of people who came
forward in Houston, TX, and other cities and made such a difference in
the lives of so many people. So when I hear the DACA Program dismissed as just overreach by a
President, illegal, and unconstitutional, I beg my colleagues: Take a
look at the human side of this story for a moment. Take a look at the
human side of 780,000 people, just like Jesus, who have been protected
from deportation, and what they have done with their lives. He didn't
vote to leave Mexico. His parents did. He didn't vote for them not to
file papers once he arrived in the United States. His parents did. That
is what the Dream Act and DACA are all about. If I am speeding down the highway and a patrolman pulls me over and
gives me a speeding ticket, they don't give a ticket to my grandson
sitting in the backseat. He wasn't driving the car. In this situation, the Dreamers and those protected by DACA were
young people brought to this country and who know no other country. For year after year, he stood up in the classroom and pledged
allegiance to the only flag he knew. He believes himself to be
American.
Keywords matched
DACA deportation