MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, it has been 57
days since the President abruptly and irresponsibly terminated the DACA
program. For 57 days, students have been panicked about how much longer they
can go to school. Brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, are terrified
that they might lose their loved ones any minute. Parents are afraid to
take their children to the hospital or to school, and breadwinners
don't know whether they will be able to continue to earn a paycheck to
support themselves and their families. For 57 days, the Republican-controlled Congress has been silent,
doing nothing to provide certainty for 800,000 American DREAMers who
are caught up in Congressional dysfunction. Without a permanent
legislative fix, these young Americans, like Maritza from Texas, will
be at risk of detention and deportation. Maritza works part time to help her pay for college so she can pursue
her dream career in journalism after graduation. Over months, she and
her family saved up $1,000 to pay for an attorney and the DACA program
application fee. All she needed was her school to provide her records
so she could finish her application. But then Hurricane Harvey hit and flooded her family's home in east
Houston and shut down school for 2 weeks. While Maritza and her mother
were recovering from Harvey's devastation, they were the victims
of another disaster, but this one was created by their own government. They watched Attorney General Jeff Sessions announce on live TV that
the Trump administration was ending DACA and cutting off new
applications for young immigrants just like her. The devastating news
crushed Maritza and her family. Now they and countless others have
waited 57 days for us to fix it.
Keywords matched
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