Shelley Berkley: “I rise in enthusiastic support of this legislation. Every year my office receives dozens of calls in May from youngsters…”

“I rise in enthusiastic support of this legislation. Every year my office receives dozens of calls in May from youngsters 17-18 years old. They have recently graduated from local high schools, been accepted to college--many at UNLV applied for a millennium scholarship, available in Nevada to the best and brightest of our Nevada high school graduates. According to state law they have to demonstrate proof of citizenship. They go home, ask their parents for their birth certificate--then they learn the truth--when they were 6 months, 1 year, 2 years old--their parents came over the border and brought their child with them. Now, 18 years later, these children are Americans. They think like Americans, live like Americans, speak like Americans; were educated in our schools side by side with our children, they know no other country, they did nothing wrong, they have broken no law intentionally. We American taxpayers have invested a great deal in these youngsters. Our tax dollars have helped educate them. They are smart, talented, hardworking Americans, ambitious, just the kind of people we want and we need for the future of our own beloved country. Others are willing to don the uniform of our Nation and fight for us in Iraq and Afghanistan--brave, strong men and women--the very kind of people we want and we need for the future of this country.”