Madam President, I come to the floor today with a sad story for my colleagues. On the day after Thanksgiving, a young man named Joaquin Luna committed suicide in the town of Mission, TX. This is a picture of Joaquin Luna with his mother--a handsome young man full of promise. He took his own life on the day after Thanksgiving. He was a senior at Juarez-Lincoln High School, where he was a straight-A student, in Mission, TX. He had a passion for architecture. In fact, he designed the home where his family lives. He was an accomplished musician, played guitar in his church choir. His family said he loved helping his neighbors with their landscaping, and he always had a smile on his face. Joaquin Luna dreamed of becoming an engineer. He had been accepted into a number of excellent schools, including Rice University and Texas A&M. But Joaquin Luna was struggling with a problem most American kids do not even imagine. Joaquin was brought to the United States of America when he was 6 months old by his parents. He came here as a baby, lived his entire life in the United States, and was undocumented. Because of his immigration status, Joaquin Luna was unable to obtain financial aid to attend the universities that accepted him. He was unable to find a legitimate job. Joaquin's brother said his world just closed. He saw that everything he was doing was for nothing. He was never going to be able to succeed.…
On the recordDecember 6, 2011
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