On the recordFebruary 14, 2018
Mr. President, as the Senate takes to the floor to debate a long-overdue, bipartisan solution for Dreamers--young immigrants who came to our country as children--I would like to tell you a story about one Dreamer in my home State of New Mexico to illustrate what is at stake here this week. Immigrants have long helped to write the economic, social, and cultural story of my home State of New Mexico and, for that matter, our entire Nation. We are, after all, a nation of immigrants. Over the last centuries, our Nation's foundation and the enduring American spirit were built by the hard work and the dreams of so many striving young immigrants. When President Trump made the outrageous decision last fall to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program--DACA--he threw hundreds of thousands of Dreamers deep into fear and uncertainty. Two weeks ago, I was proud to welcome Ivonne Orozco-Acosta, one of the estimated 7,000 Dreamers from New Mexico, as my guest at the State of the Union Address. Ivonne's family immigrated to the United States when she was 12 years old. She learned English through middle school and graduated from high school in Estancia, NM. It was during these challenging years of learning that Ivonne was encouraged by her teachers to grow and to learn. Ivonne knows the power that educators hold to create positive change in students' perspective of themselves.…





