Hilda L. Solis: “tonight I stand here today to honor the contribution of immigrants that have been made to our Nation, particularly…”

“tonight I stand here today to honor the contribution of immigrants that have been made to our Nation, particularly defending our Nation in support of comprehensive immigration reform. We need effective legislation that strikes the right balance between national security and reforming our current immigration system. This should include a path to permanency for millions of law abiding and tax paying immigrants who call the United States their home. It's my hope that the Senate finalizes debating their immigration reform bill, and that our Chamber continues to work to adopt legislation that will truly reform the system and enhance our Nation's security. Immigrant families are an important part of our social fabric and our economy. Undocumented workers, you may not know, contribute as much as $7 billion a year in Social Security into our system and $1.5 billion in Medicare every year, yet do not collect those benefits. Immigrants, you may know, play an important role in defending our Nation. In all of our wars throughout our history, immigrants have fought side by side and have given their lives to defending America's freedoms and ideals. Twenty percent of the recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest honor that our Nation bestows on our war heroes, has been granted to sons and daughters of immigrants.”