We must acknowledge and recognize that not all immigrant communities,
though, are impacted equally. I wish to take time to express my deepest
fear that we are looking away from the impact on Black immigrants,
which is the fastest growing immigrant group in the United States.
Today, more than one in five Black Americans are immigrants or children
of immigrants. Many of them face a huge impact or harm within our
immigration system. They are more likely to be detained, more likely to
be deported, and more likely to be denied asylum and relief.
  These figures are not accidental. They are systemic and stem from a
racist administration that continues to target African and Caribbean
communities with no end in sight. This administration continues to
separate our families and strip protections from those who need it
most.
  I ask my colleagues to not accept this broken, inhumane immigration
system that treats people differently based on their race and on their
origin. We must fight for fairness, dignity, and justice for all.
  This Immigrant Heritage Month and every month, we all must stand with
our immigrant neighbors and share the stories. I know Congresswoman
Ramirez shared her story, and I shared my story.
  This is the American Dream. There is no such thing as the Canadian
dream, the German dream. There is only the American Dream, and all of
us need to remember that we are a nation of immigrants.
  Mrs. RAMIREZ. We are a nation of immigrants, and, unfortunately, many
of our colleagues have forgotten that.
  I do wonder if their grandparents when they came to this country,
whether they were 5, whether they were 12, whether they were 17, if
they were alive today, what would they say about their grandchildren
that forgot the struggle and the challenges and what they needed when
their grandparents came to this country.

  I wish to take a moment to honor people who exemplify the power of
immigrant heritage as so many of my colleagues have done today in our
Special Order hour, because I know that we have a President who has
done everything in his power to vilify the immigrant community, to call
them criminals, to call them all sorts of other names, to negate their
humanity, and forget about the names, the faces of women, of children,
of hardworking people that, in fact, contribute to this community, to
this country every single day.

                   Honoring Dr. Gladys Fatima Marquez

  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Today, I rise to honor Dr. Gladys Fatima Marquez.
Gladys is a high school bilingual English language learners teacher
with over 20 years of classroom experience. She is also on the National
Education Association's executive committee. She is a member and a past
chair of the NEA Hispanic Caucus.
  Gladys is the proud granddaughter of an immigrant from Zacatecas,
Mexico. Her grandfather was a railroad worker on the Rock Island for 10
years before he was able to bring his family from Zacatecas in the
1960s.
  Gladys' mother came here at the age of 13 and struggled to feel as
though she belonged, especially at school. She, like thousands of other
immigrant students, left school to join the workforce, taking a minimum
wage factory job.
  Her mother's experience inflamed her life's passion. Gladys worked to
ensure every student believes in themselves, in their heritage, in who
they are, and that they know that they can, in fact, achieve their
dreams.
  In addition to changing the world one child at a time, Gladys is a
fierce advocate and defender of our immigrant neighbors. She has
organized teach-ins at immigration detention centers, humanitarian
missions to shelters at the border, and she has helped organize massive
marches in protest of the national policy leading to separation of
immigrant families and the incarceration of immigrant children. She
lobbied and led efforts to support DACA recipients, and she has helped
facilitate countless know-your-rights clinics.
  On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend Dr.
Gladys Fatima Marquez for her commitment to ensure that every member of
our community, from our students and our immigrant neighbors, know that
they belong.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Gladys.

                         Honoring Shaiska Malca

  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, I also rise to honor Shaiska Malca, a
constituent of the Illinois Third Congressional District and an
educator, children's book author, and entrepreneur.
  Shaiska is a proud Panamanian immigrant and vice president of the
DuPage Hispanic Alliance.
  Inspired by her own multicultural family and her mother, who had her
own impressive career in education, Shaiska founded Pura Vida Talk to
nurture bilingualism in our communities.
  Pura Vida Talk empowers children to embrace multiculturalism and
build bridges across our communities.
  Her work to share her culture and language encourages children across
Illinois' Third Congressional District and beyond to become global
citizens who appreciate and celebrate diversity; all while they are
being equipped with the invaluable skill of bilingualism, a skill that
I think is a superpower and more people should seek.

                              {time}  1850

  On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend
Shaiska Malca for reminding us of the strength we can find in
connecting to our roots, our language, and our heritage.
  I thank and congratulate Shaiska for her work.

                        Protecting All Children

  Mrs. RAMIREZ. Mr. Speaker, as we get closer to the end of the Special
Order hour, I want to go back to the children because in the previous
Special Order hour, my colleagues to the right talked a lot about
children. They talked about protecting children, protecting humanity,
protecting family, and protecting the fiber of what it is to be an
American.
  While I sigh because I sense the hypocrisy that came from that
Special Order hour, I do know that growing up, I, in fact, was taught
that we take care of the children and families in our community not
just by words but through action. I learned that we must honor our
shared humanity to ensure that children and families, in fact, get to
thrive.
  But right now, we are living in times where too many children and
families are living the indignity and the trauma of inhumane processing
centers, inhumane detention facilities, and family separation.
  Mr. Speaker, since the start of the Trump administration, at least 50
people have died in ICE detention. More than 6,200 children--children--
have been arrested by ICE at traffic stops, home raids, routine check-
in appointments, bus stops, hospitals, and airports. More than 100,000
children, including U.S. citizens, have been separated from their
families through the Trump administration.
  Mr. Speaker, these aren't just numbers. Every one of them is a
beloved child that is being denied the ability to live a fulfilling
life, a life where they get to really imagine who they can be.
  I saw this terror and trauma firsthand when I visited Steven, my 14-
year-old constituent with autism, and his father, Victor, who spent
more than 60 days in Dilley's processing facility after being taken at
an immigration check-in.
  I saw it as he hugged me and he begged me to tell him that ICE would
not detain him again and threaten him that he would never see his
mother again as they did in that detention facility.
  Mr. Speaker, I know the pain that families separated by a cruel,
inhumane immigration system endure. Do you know why? It is because I
watched as so many people around the world watched Kevin, my 18-year-
old U.S. citizen constituent with stage IV terminal colon cancer cry,
``Mama, Mama,'' as he was finally reunited with his mother and father.
His parents had been detained for 1 whole month in Arizona at a
detention facility after they had asked for a humanitarian visa to come
see their child one last time. You see, Kevin, after we finally were
able to get his parents released, died hours after finally seeing his
parents for one last time.
  I think of Ofelia, my 15-year-old constituent, whose life was cut
short by a rare and aggressive form of cancer, but she continued to
fight one more battle. She fought to have her father's order of
deportation canceled, ensuring he would no longer live in fear. You
see,