Sheila Jackson Lee: “I want to make sure that my county knows that there are 179,000 veterans who live in Harris County, and 1,567,000…”

“I want to make sure that my county knows that there are 179,000 veterans who live in Harris County, and 1,567,000 veterans who live in Texas. Some of those are our immigrant veterans, and some are not citizens. So my point is, here today, that we must find every available way to treat them as they treated this Nation: I am willing to die for America and America's values. Mr. Speaker, I must raise this. Languishing in a Russian prison is a veteran, Paul Whelan, with bogus charges, a hostage. Alongside of him is Brittney Griner, and it has been determined that the conditions she is living in are just atrocious. My point is, that any time an American needs America to fix the problem, as a democratic nation, we must stand with those who have stood with us; those who are citizens and those who are immigrants who fought for us. I ask my friends and colleagues to support H.R. 7946. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7946, the Veteran Service Recognition Act of 2022 that would address immigration-related issues pertaining to noncitizen military veterans. By enacting H.R. 7946, the Department of Homeland Security would be required to create and enforce a system for identifying noncitizen veterans and require their status as a veteran to be brought into consideration in the case of removal proceedings. H.R. 7946 will also require the DHS to provide the opportunity for eligible noncitizen veterans to be granted lawful permanent resident status.…”