Immigration

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleagues about a mom I
met on Tuesday. Maria Pena is from Colombia. She has three kids,
started a small business, and has lived here for 14 years, and her
Congressman is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Goodlatte.

Maria's youngest is a U.S. citizen. Her employees are citizens. Maria
wants to work and live legally in the U.S. but has no way to do so. She
told me, ``Luis, I am too scared to leave the house unless I have to,
so we drive to school, we drive to church, and we drive to the grocery
store, and that is it.'' Maria knows anything else is too risky because
any contact with the police could mean she gets deported and her family
is split up.

So, today, I give thanks that Maria and her family in just a few
months will sign up for that same peace of mind my family has because
she will be eligible for deferred action for parents of U.S. citizens,
and I will think of Maria and her children no matter how many times the
Republican majority makes me vote on bills to attack the President's
actions that he is taking because they will prevent American citizen children from losing their parents.

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