They worked so hard just to send my dad to
college. They saved money in a coffee can in a basement. I am here
today with great-grandparents who came straight from Slovenia, a
grandfather who worked in a mine, a dad who grew up there and was the
first one in the family to go to college and get a 2-year degree and
then a 4-year degree, and I literally stand here on the shoulders of
these immigrants. On my mom's side, the Swiss side, my grandpa came over and ended up
at Ellis Island when he was 18 years old, and they had reached the cap
on Swiss immigrants. That might sound amusing, but that was the case. He then somehow got himself to Canada--I think he said he was going to
live there--came back through--because he wanted to be in our country--
came back through, ended up in Wisconsin, like all good Swiss, with my
other relatives on my grandma's side, worked at a cheese factory, and
was an alien for 20 years. He finally applied for citizenship when
World War II was breaking out, and that is when they found out that, in
fact, he maybe had come into the country two different ways. But back
then, they listened to his story, and they gave him citizenship. Otherwise, he would have been deported--I think it was 3 weeks before
the U.S. joined World War II--as a Swiss German. Instead, he married my
grandma back then, they had my mom and my mom's brother, and here I am. I am on the shoulders of those immigrants. So when I see these
Dreamers, I see my own family, and I hope everyone in this Chamber sees
the same thing--the American dream. That is why, Mr.
Keywords matched
deported immigrants