Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I have received a lot of calls in my office in the last few days. Some are offering help to the people of Puerto Rico, but many are from moms and dads hoping to hear from their children, from children hoping to hear from their moms and dads, from grandchildren worried about an elderly grandparent who is still in Puerto Rico.

Two weeks after the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, there are people who have not been heard from and people who are calling for help, but have not received it yet.

I have had Members of Congress, State and local officials, and people from all over the country call me to tell me about someone who needs help getting out of Puerto Rico. Their mom is still in Puerto Rico, or a cousin is on dialysis and has not been heard from, and can I help them get to a hospital on the mainland.

These calls are heartbreaking because they are all about U.S. citizens who should be treated better 2 weeks after a calamity, even a devastating calamity like Hurricane Maria.

Most of the calls have been from my constituents in Chicago. Here is one example that was summarized to me by one of my staff members in Chicago.

She said:

Congressman, I received a call from--I won't give her

name--she lives here in Illinois, but has an aunt who is in a

hospital in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, who is very ill with

cancer. She is requesting assistance from our office to get

her aunt out of Puerto Rico so she can receive treatment in

Chicago.

Mr. Speaker, if you take a look at my Facebook page, you will see the same sort of thing.

Manny writes:

The municipality of Arecibo, a coastal town in the northern

part of Puerto Rico, has not received help. I spoke to my

family there via text and she said the situation there is

dire.

Yanny writes:

Please don't forget Aibonito. The people there are hungry,

thirsty, and there are many sick who need medicine. Thank

you.

I just spoke 10 minutes ago to Maria in Chicago. She said:

Congressman, I haven't heard from my parents in Cayey.

Mr. Speaker, it is tragic. These messages break my heart. I don't know what to tell people, except to say that help may be on the way soon. Of course, that is not good enough.

I have no explanation for why it is not already there. It certainly is not the fault of the brave men and women who work for FEMA and the Armed Forces. I spent a lot of time with them in Puerto Rico while I was there, and they are working hard. They are tired. They are facing the difficult task of finding and feeding people.

From what I saw in Puerto Rico this last weekend, what I am hearing from my constituents, and what I am hearing from my family and friends, we need to seriously ramp up the use of full capacity and capabilities of the U.S. Government, including the U.S. military, to rescue people.

They don't need paper towels tossed at them like T-shirts at a sports arena. They need helicopters, bridges, cell towers, and generators. This is why I was, frankly, horrified by our President's performance yesterday on the island.

He said that Puerto Rico was making his budget out of whack, as if the monetary cost of saving lives is what we should be focusing on, or that an agenda that cuts taxes is really as important as saving people's lives in danger.

From the beginning, he has focused on the cost of saving Puerto Ricans, not the moral duty to save them. He has essentially said that Puerto Ricans are sitting around looking for handouts and not helping themselves, which is not at all what I saw in Puerto Rico this past weekend, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday, the President said we should all feel proud because only 16 people have been listed as officially killed by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Really? We should feel proud?

He said that a real tragedy like Hurricane Katrina killed many more people. Thousands, he said.

So I guess he is saying: Hey, only 16. Why the big fuss?

That number doubled overnight, by the way. Everyone understands that it will go up further still when contact is made with all parts of the island.

I look at it a little differently. To me, it is almost like Hurricane Maria posed a test to the United States of America and to our President. The hurricane said: I am going to take 34 souls. That is 34 too many, but that is what I am going to take. Now I am leaving it up to you, America, Mr. President, and you the people in Congress to tell me what you will do to prevent that number from going any higher. Are you getting medicine to the sick? Are you evacuating the aunt with cancer or the cousin on dialysis? Are you providing safe drinking water and flights to safety?

Mr. Speaker, I don't think today's body count is the right metric to look at, but, rather, we should be challenging ourselves to make sure it doesn't go higher.

The most serious event in Puerto Rico's modern history may not qualify as a significant disaster to our President, but let us not sit back and allow the body count to change the President's mind. We just can't wait that long.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for votes Monday, October 2, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Yea'' on roll call votes 544 and 545.

Madam Speaker, I just returned from Puerto Rico, and to start my remarks, I would like to say a few words in Spanish, the language of Puerto Rico, and then I will switch back to English.

I will provide a translation to the desk.

(English translation of the statement made in Spanish is as follows:)

My beloved Puerto Rico, you are not alone. We hear your cries for help and the full strength of the American government and military is finally coming to help.

It has been slow and no one has been as frustrated as I am that the response did not happen with the urgency and priority that Puerto Ricans--and every human being who is suffering--deserve.

I tell my colleagues what I saw and what you told me while I was there. I will work with them immediately, and make sure that this Congress treats Puerto Rico fairly and generously.

And I am not alone. The other Puerto Ricans and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are working with the leadership of the House to put together an aid package.

Cities and towns, Mayors and Governors from across the country are making their communities available to you so that you have a safe place to be while the rescue and recovery and rebuilding continues.

And standing with the Mayor of Chicago just yesterday, he said he wants the City of Chicago to be a place where any and all Puerto Ricans who need a safe place can come and we will help you resettle.

You are not alone.

Mi amado Puerto Rico, no estas solo.

Oimos tus peticiones de ayuda, y la fuerza del gobierno y milicia estadounidense finalmente vienen a ayudar.

Ha sido despacio, y comparto tu frustracion sobre una respuesta que no se dio con la urgencia y prioridad que los Puertorriquenos--y cualquier ser humano que esta sufriendo--se merecen.

Les digo a mis colegas lo que he visto, y lo que me has dicho cuando estuve ahi. Trabajare con ellos inmediatamente para asegurar que este Congreso trate a Puerto Rico justa y generosamente.

Y no soy el unico. Otros Puertorriquenos, y el Caucus Hispano estan trabajando con el liderazgo de la Camara para conformar un programa de ayuda.

Ciudades y pueblos, alcaldes y gobernadores a traves del pais, estan abriendote las puertas de sus comunidades para que tengas un lugar seguro mientras el rescate, la recuperacion y la reconstruccion continuan.

Y ayer, presente con el alcalde de Chicago, el me dijo que quiere que la ciudad de Chicago sea un lugar en el cual todo Puertorriqueno que necesite un lugar seguro pueda llegar y reestablecerse.

Madam Speaker, I flew to Puerto Rico on Friday to see what was happening on the ground with my own eyes. Madam Speaker, it was worse than I imagined, and it broke my heart to see my beloved island so destroyed and so scared for its future and feeling so alone and isolated.

There were dead animals all over the place, and people were so desperate for food and water. Anyone who is sick or elderly is finding it hard or impossible to get medicine and medical care.

Things are improving day by day, and the number of helicopters flying missions of mercy to the interior of the island is increasing. But almost everyone has no electrical power. Almost everyone has little or no food and trouble finding it. Almost everyone has no water, and some are seeking water from unreliable or possibly contaminated sources.

At the same time, I also saw an amazing unity and toughness, a can-do spirit that my fellow Puerto Ricans have the ability to make a way where there is no way, to improvise, and, most importantly, to work together.

Any divisions of party or class that are right on the surface on a typical day in Puerto Rico, this faction versus that faction, all of that was blown away. The only status issue that matters for Puerto Ricans right now is the status of the SOS, save our souls. We need help, and plenty of it, now.

Yesterday, I spoke at a press conference in Chicago with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and leaders from Chicago, including Fire Commissioner Santiago and the head of Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Control, a brigadier general in our National Guard.

The mayor announced that 22 Chicago firefighters, on their own dime, are going to Puerto Rico to help with the rescue and recovery efforts, including bringing equipment that may help communications to remote parts of the island.

The mayor also announced that, in Chicago, we want to be for Puerto Rico what Houston was for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina--a place of refuge where we will help you get settled, get your kids into school, get you the medical care you need, and make you feel welcome.

One thing I learned in Puerto Rico this weekend is that, in Chicago and in the rest of the U.S., we need to start thinking about evacuation in addition to rebuilding and recovery.

I have welcomed my own family into my home, and people I know across the country are welcoming relatives escaping Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. But we need to wrap up our commitment beyond the family-to- family informal relationships and look systematically at how we organize ourselves to meet the great need of our fellow citizens on the island in the Caribbean.

Rebuilding Puerto Rico--making her a strong and self-sufficient island nation of industrious and hardworking people again--will take years and require a long-term commitment from this Congress and this country so that the well-being of our fellow man on the island can be met.

So, Madam Speaker, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. Once again, Chicago is there to welcome you, to enroll your kids in school, to get you medical attention, and to make sure you have a safe place until the recovery and rebuilding has been accomplished.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for votes Wednesday, September 27, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Nay'' on rollcall votes 538 and 539, and I would have voted ``Yea'' on rollcall vote 540.

Personal Explanation

No, Mr. President, Puerto Rico is not doing well. We don't need to be reminded of the debt. We should remind ourselves of our responsibility to the 3.4 million people of the island nation of Puerto Rico. They are suffering greatly. Mr. Speaker, the people of Puerto Rico need our immediate and sustained help.

We all know that flooding, destruction, and complete elimination of the power grid for the whole island are among the consequences of Hurricane Maria, but this is no ordinary hurricane, and it hit at no ordinary time. Mr. Speaker, we need all hands on deck to make sure rescuing Puerto Rico becomes our number one priority.

Immediate needs must be met--fresh water, food, medicine, shelter, and fuel--but we need sustained investment and cooperation with the island's government and its people to make Puerto Rico livable again. Like a lot of Americans, I have watched with increasing horror and panic as the Governor of Puerto Rico, the mayor of San Juan, and ordinary Puerto Ricans have pleaded for more help.

The work of first responders and our military has been heroic, but the island needs more. One-third of the doctors--over 5,000--have left the island of Puerto Rico in the last 10 years. Hospitals have no doctors in some cases. Nurses, fuel, and medicine are running out at the hospitals that remain open. This is a public health crisis and should be declared a health emergency by the Federal Government.

Puerto Rico has been in an economic crisis for years. Five thousand people flee Puerto Rico every month--before two hurricanes hit--leaving behind many old, many young, the very poor, the very sick, and the very vulnerable. There is no food in supermarkets.

We need an airlift. We need an effort the scale of Dunkirk. We know the U.S. is capable. We can invade foreign countries with hundreds of thousands of troops, flawless communications, food, and security. We need the same effort now. We need the Federal Government to go all in to rescue Puerto Rico from a humanitarian crisis which is developing.

Welcome other nations if they want to help, Mr. President, like Cuba, that has offered doctors and other emergency assistance. But what I fear is

that the Federal Government is not stepping up as fully and as quickly as we must.

I remember, in this body, when the legislation to take over the Puerto Rican government and put in place a junta or control board was working its way through Congress--the PROMESA bill. What was the main selling point for the bill? Vote for PROMESA because it will not cost us a penny. So that is where this Congress and the Federal Government start from: not wanting to spend what needs to be spent or do what needs to be done.

We need to waive cost sharing that could charge--would charge--Puerto Rico for a percentage of the relief and rescue help they are receiving today. Puerto Rico is broke, and they cannot borrow because the government--our Federal Government--has said it cannot. This Congress has said it cannot. So they can't set their own budget and spending priorities, which have all been taken away from them.

So the U.S. Government should start by waiving those cost-sharing requirements and suspend the Jones Act permanently or for a substantial period--at least a decade--to help in the recovery. Since it was imposed on Puerto Rico, the Jones Act has cost the Puerto Rican consumers more than all the money owed to Wall Street and the debt, yet the President reminds us of the debt.

Let the ships flow as quickly and as cheaply from wherever they may come because this is an emergency. Let's be clear: with or without hurricanes, the electrical grid, the roads, ports, public safety, and public health system are close to collapsing. So this emergency can not just be treated by Congress, the President, FEMA, and other agencies as just another storm.

Mr. Speaker, I have asked the Speaker of the House and the Democratic leader to form a delegation and send Members to Puerto Rico so they can see for themselves how dire things are. I am leaving on Friday to go there, and I am hoping other Members will join me. I have family who needs help, so I am headed there to do what I can do. But, most importantly, I am committed to shining a spotlight on the people of Puerto Rico so that they are neither out of sight nor out of our minds. We need to make them the priority in this moment of great need and in this moment of national disaster.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for votes Tuesday, September 5, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call votes 439 and 440.

Mr. Speaker, how did we get here? In December of 2010, the House passed the DREAM Act right here on this floor. Almost all of the Democrats voted for it, and a handful of Republicans, too. The goal was to legalize immigrants who had grown up in the U.S., achieved education, and had no way of getting legalization status unless Congress took action.

Way back in 2001, I had introduced the first bill to legalize immigrant youth. So it took almost 10 years until it passed in the House in 2010. And later that same week, there was a vote in the Senate. Fifty-five out of 100 Senators voted for cloture on the DREAM Act to legalize the status of undocumented immigrant youth.

We know you need 60 votes in the Senate to move something forward, so the DREAM Act was blocked, even though it had a majority of the votes of the Senators because of a filibuster led by Republicans.

Not just any Republican led the filibuster, but the leader of the opposition to the DREAM Act was none other than the Attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions. So yesterday the President, unwilling to go out to the cameras and announce he was killing the DACA program himself, sent Jeff Sessions out to tell 800,000 immigrants: We don't want you here anymore.

Included in that announcement was a halfhearted sales pitch for Congress to pass legislation. But remember, when Sessions had a chance to do exactly that, he led the fight to stop it. That is hypocrisy on steroids. So President Obama finally took the only action he could take 2 years later and crafted a narrowly defined program call DACA that has never been successfully challenged in court.

DACA recipients are teachers, nurses, and one is even a Chicago policeman who straps on his gun and badge to protect people every day in my city of Chicago. During Hurricane Harvey, DREAMers with DACA were first responders and volunteers and those who gave their lives to save others, like Alonso Guillen of Lufkin, Texas.

Look, we want a clean DREAM Act, an up or down vote.

Democrats, let's be clear. This is a crisis that requires swift passage of legislation to fix it, as big a priority as anything else we need to pass this month. Our votes are needed on the debt ceiling, Democrats, and on this bill and on the CR. What are we getting for our votes, Democrats?

When the CEO of Microsoft says that you can only take my DREAMers with DACA by coming first through me, that is a challenge to every policymaker in this Chamber and especially to my Democratic colleagues.

When will we throw down and say: No, you cannot have our votes unless you give us the DREAM Act? When, Democrats?

When will we say: You cannot have our vote unless we can bring 800,000 young lives along with us? When, Democrats?

Let's demand a vote on the DREAM Act. We can pass it right here, right now, and give our young people, the future of our Nation, the safety and security they need and deserve to contribute to the United States of America.

It is the only country they have known. They are American in everything but a piece of paper, and we should all be ashamed of ourselves by not allowing a vote. 800,000 young people, once, twice, three times registered with the government, and what do they get? Six months. Pack your bags and leave.

They have pledged allegiance to only one flag, the United States of America and this country. This cowardly action turns its back on them. I say no CR. I say no debt ceiling. Let's have a vote first on the DREAM Act.

Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday, I was a guest at Lincoln United Methodist Church in Chicago, where we had an emergency meeting to discuss how we would defend the DACA--Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals--initiative started 5 years ago.

DACA has allowed nearly 800,000 DREAMers--immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and who grew up here--to work and live here if they meet certain requirements, go through a background check, and renew their application periodically.

Now, Republicans, led by the Governor of Texas, are planning to sue the President if he doesn't rescind DACA. And given this President and his opinion of Mexicans, Latinos, and immigrants, we are not expecting the President to put up much of a fight.

So for a few weeks now, I have been telling people to prepare for the end of DACA, maybe as soon as September. You can watch the speech on Facebook or YouTube. A lot of Trump supporters got angry about what I said on Saturday. They didn't even take the time to watch or listen to my speech, no. They got fired up by Breitbart, the only publication I can count on to cover everything I say.

Breitbart said I was unhinged and said in the headline that I said it is time to eliminate Trump and bring him to his knees. The Washington Times didn't watch the speech but saw Breitbart's fair and balanced coverage and said I threatened Trump with physical violence.

FOX News then echoed the idea that evening, saying I was threatening violence and would bring our violent movement to every neighborhood in America. So by the time you got to The Daily Stormer--that whipped cream on top of the White Nationalists/Neo-Nazi banana split--they cited the FOX News story and read the headline, ``Subversive Beanman Luis Gutierrez Calls for Trump's Elimination.''

If FOX, Breitbart, and Daily Stormer report something, it has got to be true, I thought. So I went back to the video to see if I had threatened to assassinate the President.

And you know what? I didn't. Here is what I said this past Saturday: ``I am going to make sure that I am there, to make sure of one thing, that we write those articles of impeachment and take the Trump administration to trial before the Senate and eliminate him as President of the United States. He cannot fire Comey, threaten to fire Mueller, and say `I am the king,' `I am a dictator.' ''

This is the quote, and I clearly am talking about the impeachment process, which I believe to be nonviolent. I mean, former President Bill Clinton went through it, and he is still alive. In fact, in shorthand, I am saying we should go through regular order.

And that is nothing new for me. I have stood on this floor and called on the chairman of the Judiciary Committee to begin the process of hearings and witnesses, just as the Senate Judiciary Committee is doing, because that is our job.

Just a moment. Later in the speech, I said: ``This is a democracy, and we will make democracy work. We will make it work for everyone, whether you are gay, straight, Brown, White, documented or undocumented, we are going to make sure democracy works for you . . . '' Meaning the people packed in the church that day, and really everyone else.

I continued saying: ``And we are starting here this afternoon at this marvelous church in Chicago. Get ready. Our movement is coming somewhere in your neighborhood.''

So what Breitbart imagined as an incitement to violence was really a call to action for people to get involved in their democracy, which, last time I looked, is still a form of government we aspire to in this country, and it is still nonviolent.

But my favorite part of the Breitbart headline and the whole bloodthirsty Brown people motif that drove the coverage from Breitbart to FOX to Daily Stormer is that I said I wanted to bring President Trump to his knees.

But what I actually said was, Gandhi, by employing the techniques and practices of nonviolent resistance, brought

the British Empire to its knees. Which is actually true, and we should learn from his example.

Indeed, Dr. King, a disciple of Gandhi, applied those strategies to the American civil rights movement to great success. And were it not for Dr. King and the other heroes who laid down their lives during the civil rights movement, I would not be standing here before you, and we wouldn't even be standing up or talking about The Daily Stormer, Breitbart, or Trump in defending immigrants and other vulnerable communities.

So we owe the civil rights movement a great debt. I want to follow in those footsteps.

So I read the headlines in Breitbart and I went back to look at what I actually said. You know what? I stand by it and I won't back down.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House Chamber for Roll Call votes 407, 408, and 409 on Monday, July 24, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted Nay on Roll Call votes 407 and 408. I would have also voted Yea on Roll Call vote 409.

Mr. Speaker, I think the President has a lot to learn about families. In my opinion, families

should be protected and families should remain intact wherever possible, but it is clear the President has other notions.

In the President's world, families can and should be cut off from healthcare coverage. So he is working with Republicans to take coverage away from 20 to 30 million Americans so they can say they made good on a campaign promise, regardless of the consequences in real people's lives.

In the President's world, children, especially his children, don't have to be honest when they apply for security clearances or disclose all their meetings they had with the Russians.

In the President's world, children and grandchildren can be convenient political props, like when a 6-year-old granddaughter is sent into the Oval Office to interrupt an interview with The New York Times, especially when the interview isn't going well for him.

But grandchildren and grandparents in the President's world do not have a ``bona fide'' family connection when it comes to being refugees. In the latest incarnation of his Muslim and refugee ban, the President excluded grandparents from the category of those close family members-- only in the Republicans' mind.

Well, let me tell you something. If the President can be interrupted by his grandchild to shake up an interview that isn't going so well, I can ask my grandson to help me make a point here in Congress.

Here is Luis Andres. Luis Andres is my grandson. You see, in the Gutierrez family, grandparents and grandchildren are pretty close family members and have a bona fide family connection. In fact, Luis Andres lives downstairs from me with his mom and dad in the ground floor unit of a two-flat in Portage Park in Chicago, and growing up with Grandma and Grandpa upstairs has distinct advantages. There is always someone to feed you, watch you, help you study, or just joke around.

Throughout much of the world and throughout American history until fairly recently, the idea that families do not include grandparents is laughable. Multiple generations live together or very nearby, and grandparents, even great-grandparents, are an integral part of the family unit and share child rearing responsibilities.

So when you are in Syria or Yemen, Central Africa or Central America, places where surviving day to day without being killed by gunmen, government, or gangs is not easy, extended, multigenerational families not only live together and support each other, occasionally they have to flee to safety together.

But not if Donald Trump has his way they don't, or at least not when it comes to coming here to America.

Thankfully, the American court system disagrees with our President on this. Hawaii sued the President again and won an injunction again, and the Supreme Court, which would ultimately determine the fate of America's commitment to refugees and religious tolerance will determine the case later this year.

But in the meantime, over the objections of the President, grandparents are officially part of the family and have a bona fide relationship that allows them, under the law, to bypass the President's attempt to keep them out.

Thank you, courts, for recognizing and defending families and giving our President a lesson in the obvious.

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, I learned about a tragedy in San Antonio where a truck packed with immigrants was discovered and at least 10 people were killed. The truck had no ventilation or air-conditioning. There was no water for those inside who had paid a lot of money to risk their lives to live in America--10 dead and another 20 near death, some of them children, under the hot Texas sun in an apparent smuggling operation.

You see, if you cut off legal immigration channels and make people wait decades for a visa, if they are eligible to apply at all, it strengthens the hands of smugglers. If you turn asylum seekers around, in violation of our own laws and international law, those seeking freedom are driven into the arms of smugglers.

If, by going through our legal system in requesting asylum, your entire family becomes vulnerable to deportation, being sent back to a place you fled because death was a certainty, then people will pay smugglers to go around our system because there are no ways to go through it.

A border wall like the one Republicans will slip into the military spending bill this week in the House will not help matters, but only make them worse. Forcing people to enter the black market because there is no way to go through our visa system will undoubtedly increase the number of times we hear about tragedies like the one in Texas and the number of parents, grandparents, and children who lose everything because we have failed to create and maintain a functioning immigration system.

When Luis Andres turns 18 and is able to vote, just like a million young Latinos like him every year are eligible, I know he will remember which party stood for and stood by families and which ones did not. Grandparents, they are part of the American family even if the Republicans don't seem to think so.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the National Immigration Law Center for its leadership and decades-long commitment to defending and advancing the rights of immigrants with low income.

On July 25th, the Coalition on Human Needs will rightfully honor the National Immigration Law Center as one of its Human Needs Heroes for the year. Since 1979, NILC has grown to be one of the premier immigrants' rights organizations, strategically using a combination of litigation, policy, communications, and alliance-building strategies to effect social change.

During my years in office, I have been proud to work with NILC to advance fair and moral immigration policies. During a debate that all too often plays to fear rather than fact, NILC works to make sure that policymakers remember the humanity of immigrants, their irreplaceable contributions to our economy and culture, and the real effects these laws have on their lives. By defending immigrants' rights to due process, fair treatment as workers, and preventing racial profiling, NILC has benefited our communities and strengthened our democracy.

I have been proud to work with NILC on many important bills and advocacy efforts. Over the years, we have worked tirelessly to keep families together through deportation defense. We have fought to reverse cuts to immigrant families' welfare benefits. We have put our heads together to draft smart, fair, and humane Comprehensive Immigration Reform and DREAM legislation to make immigration legal again and to protect young immigrants. We have advocated for immigrants' health by creating legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain healthcare through the Affordable Care Act. Today, we continue to work together to protect our country's immigrant community that is under the threat of mass detention, deportation, and overall criminalization of immigrants. Together, we have not and we will not back down from this threat. I am proud to be an ally of NILC, and I applaud them in their tireless commitment to creating fair and just immigration policies.

The National Immigration Law Center has been a trusted source of policy on the intersection of poverty and immigration, an unyielding voice for making sure the debate on immigration reflects the lives of those that it affects, and a staunch defender of immigrant rights. It is my honor today to recognize the National Immigration Law Center for its dedication and skill, as well as to thank them for all that they have done on behalf of immigrants.

Mr. Speaker, it looks almost certain that the Trump administration is going to take about 1.2 million immigrants who currently have documents issued by the U.S. Government and turn them into undocumented immigrants. They have work permits and pay their full share of taxes. They are covered by U.S. labor laws and are not undercutting the wages, well-being, and livelihood of native-born American workers.

For all intents and purposes, they are documented workers in the U.S., and many have been here for more than two decades. Nevertheless, the more than 400,000 with temporary protected status, or TPS, and 800,000 with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, could be made undocumented in the coming weeks and in the month of September.

Then, once they are categorized as undocumented, President Trump will unleash ICE and Homeland Security to go after them so they can be deported.

There are 800,000 young people who went through a thorough background check and have been complying with the rules of the DACA program for almost 5 years. They were brought here as children and grew up in the United States, went to our schools, played sports with our kids, and they speak English probably as well as you and I.

They came forward, as they were told to, and we actually reduced the population of undocumented immigrants, got people on the books, and were able to redeploy our resources elsewhere.

Now it appears that the leaders in the Republican Party who do not like the idea of so many immigrants having legal status are giving the President an ultimatum: deport the DREAMers, or we will sue.

The Governor of Texas, who is leading the charge, has a very sympathetic judge, and it is up to Jeff Sessions to put up a fight, when he himself has been trying to kill legal status for immigrants for years.

So, practically speaking, between ending DACA and ending TPS, we are going to dump about 1.2 million people into the pool of 10 million to 11 million people who are living and working here under the radar, outside of legal protections, and without any way to become legal.

So this Saturday, in Chicago, at 2 p.m., at Lincoln United Methodist Church on Damen, we are going to get together and organize ourselves to fight back. Yes, there will be legislation from Democrats and even Republicans to fight back. There will be court cases to fight back, even if the Attorney General does nothing, which we fully expect him to do. But fighting for DACA and fighting to keep millions of people in this country who have put down roots and built lives here is going to be a people's fight, and the effort to find ways to protect families and to cope with more than a million people being pushed into the black market requires us to organize in every community across the Nation.

It is up to us to teach each other how we will resist this latest insult in our congregations, churches, universities, cities, and neighborhoods throughout the Nation. Immigrants or people who have DACA or TPS cannot do this on their own, but they need to be part of a coalition that fights back.

Teachers who work with kids every day and bear witness to the fears students face every day about their parents and families can't do this alone. They need to be part of a coalition that comes together to resist.

Employers will face a choice: whether they are just going to roll over while employees are ruled ineligible and work documents are terminated, or to stand with us and stand with their workers and fight for them.

So, if you marched with your pink hat at the Women's March, I am asking you now, on behalf of immigrants and the very future of immigration, to stand with us. If you marched for science or the environment, if you have joined us in protesting bathroom laws and discrimination in all its forms, your brothers and sisters need you now.

At airports across the country, you stood up for refugees and said no to Trump's Muslim ban. We need you. Black Lives Matter, we need you, and, frankly, we need each other.

People are going to peacefully stand up and fight for justice, common sense, and what is right. We need everyone to be there with us, helping us, walking with us. In Chicago, it starts this Saturday at 2 at Lincoln United Methodist Church in Pilsen.

The road ahead is not going to be very easy, but we have fought hard to win victories for our country, and for the DREAMers, who are the leading edge of our movement to make immigration legal again in this country.

Now is the time. We need your help to protect families and communities and to do what is right. We cannot do it alone.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for votes Monday, July 17, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call votes 379, 380, and 381.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for Roll Call vote 367 on Thursday, July 13, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted No on Roll Call vote 367.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent in the House chamber for Roll Call vote 349 on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Had I been present, I would have voted Yea on Roll Call vote 349.