Date: 2012-06-19
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. Ive had the pleasure of chairing the Congressional Childrens Caucus for a number of years. having founded it almost a decade ago. Im delighted to have. as part of our agenda. a number of issues dealing with mentoring. nutrition. obesity. issues dealing with now a phenomena that is raging across our Nation. bullying. and introduced legislation just 6 months ago and now revised legislation that deals with renewing the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant. as well as providing intervention on these issues. Im looking forward to bipartisan support because. as weve seen statistics across America. children as young as preK and kindergarten now can interpret actions as bullying. We need to give help and relief to school districts and parents and families. and most of all. a public statement that that action is intolerable and that we want our children to go to schools and playgrounds and places that they will find comfort and enjoyment as a child. That brings me also to my commitment to science. technology. engineering. and math. I was very pleased to be involved in a program that provided opportunity for sixth and seventh grade boys at risk. It gave them math and science in the morning with what we called the SMART board. and then in the afternoon they played with college football players and learned the skills of football with various sports leagues. Of course. we had the corporate support. So I raised the question to my good friend. the company Halliburton. and asked for their CEO. who was supportive of this program last summer. to recognize the value of science. technology. engineering. and math. and respond to the needs of these innercity boys in Houston. the place where the company is located with so many employees. Im reminded of going to give comfort to many of their employees when KBR was owned by Halliburton and they had tragically lost employees in Iraq. It was my chance to go and respond to that crisis and to give my sympathy. Thats the way we are as neighbors. but they are not acting neighborly now. And there are a number of boys. the same kind of children that I see that come here to Washington all the time. Of course. these atrisk boys have probably never been out of the city of Houston. but they are in school districts across the city. Isnt it a shame that we cant get a response. with all the great employees that I know care about the city. to be able to support these children? I ask for the CEO to respond to these atrisk boys. Ill certainly be looking forward to engaging and making sure that that happens. Its very important. I understand that there has been some question about an executive order that deals with helping children again across this Nation. children who have come to the United States not of their own accord. who were brought by their parents and have been here since the age of 16 and have attempted. like many children that I see. to do the right thing. to get a high school diploma. to be in the United States service. to get a GED that happened to have come and theyre unstatused. This issue has been before the Congress for 11 years. In fact. there was an effort passed by the House that moved to the Senate. as was instructed. and the Senate refused to move forward on something called the DREAM Act. If you look at all of our cases and our caseload in our respective districts. particularly those of us in the Southwest. there are tons of cases that have come in that will bring tears to your eyes. children being deported away from their families or families being separated. Let me disabuse you of the notion that this is not done under the law. There is a regulatory scheme under the Homeland Security Department that allows discretionary determination about deportation or whether or not someone should go into deportation. These are children. The President did the right thing by having an executive order that utilized the powers by the Secretary of Homeland Security under the Code of Federal Regulations to be able to use that discretion. Its the right thing to do. Congress. its not too late. my colleagues. Republicans and Democrats. to come forward and support the DREAM Act that has been introduced over and over again. that had bipartisan support. In fact. its not too late to help the farmers. to help the hightech industry. and pass comprehensive immigration reform. Who are we. other than Americans. who are humanitarians. who are empathetic. who love the values of this Nation and believe in opportunity? I dont want people to be equating the loss of jobs with allowing a few children to be able to be saved from deportation. whether they come from South and Central America. they come from Ireland. they come from Italy. they come from the continent of Africa. the Caribbean. It is time to be the Nation that we know we are. which is lifting up people. giving opportunity. This is the greatest country in the world. and I look forward to corporations responding to atrisk boys. Mr. Speaker. and. as well. that we recognize the importance of helping children wherever they are.