On the recordJuly 25, 2019
First, I would like to congratulate the gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Garcia, not only for his legacy and leadership here in the United States Congress, but really for the work of reconciliation and friendship in the great city of Chicago, working with so many different groups and understanding the myriad of issues dealing with immigrants. Madam Speaker, I rise today to, first of all, say to my fellow Americans--that was something utilized by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. And I would think that, as he said it many, many years ago, America was less diverse--I use it now, because I think it is important in a Nation that is enormously diverse, that we, in fact, use the words ``fellow Americans,'' so that we cannot pit one group of Americans against another, these immigrants against those who are here, or those who have been immigrants that have come and now have either gotten status or been here for a long time. Let us not let the administration pit one American against another. We are, in fact, really our brothers' and sisters' keeper. When I think of immigrants, I think of every single person who has come to this Nation. They have come in many different colors and in many different eras. Yes, Native Americans were already here. Yes, African Americans came as slaves. But then, as the years passed, there were people of African descent who came as immigrants.…
