CHC Chair Remarks at Press Event with Leader Pelosi and Evangelical Leaders in Support of Congressional Action to Protect DREAMers

Washington, D.C. - The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01) joined Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Evangelical Leaders and Dreamers for a press event in support of Congressional action to protect Dreamers. Below are the Chair's remarks and the video file can be downloaded here.

CHC Chair. Thank you very much. I'm Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham from New Mexico and I'm Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

I am incredibly honored to be here today because I too believe in faith and the will and power of God to bring Members together for a higher purpose here and a real calling.

My father was an incredible man of faith.

He believed in the power of prayer and in the idea that our shared sacrifice could lift others up and in turn make our world a better place.

My father's faith and my faith too -- in my house you were born, you were baptized Catholic, and you were enrolled in Catholic school all on the same day.

[Laughter]

My father's faith compelled him to make a 30-mile plus pilgrimage every year to a holy site in New Mexico for my sister Kimberly – my younger sister - who suffered from a malignant brain tumor.

For my father, this was the sacrifice he made so that his prayer would be heard, so that my sister would be protected, and so that she would have as much as could be hoped for, for her life.

Now my sister, frankly, lived longer than any doctor said she could. She lived for twenty-one years with a malignant brain tumor.

And even after my sister died my father continued to make that 30-mile journey because he promised God that he would.

That same kind of faith and sacrifice is driving hundreds of thousands of parents and Dreamers right now, that same prayer, that same pilgrimage, while they wait for this Congress to meet its responsibility.

Their faith drives them to protect their families and hope for a better life.

And this press conference is really about the faith community, all of it, asking this country and this Congress to provide that same level of support and protection to Dreamers and their families who have sacrificed so much because of the faith they have in this nation's values and ideals.

So we are and I am too praying for Congress to protect Dreamers without delay. And I apologize.

[Applause]

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