Pete Gallego Quotes
We all want our border to be secure. However, certain individuals use this argument to stop us from ever enacting immigration reform.
Gallego, Pete. "Speech on Immigration Reform." Congressional Record, 2013.
The United States policies at the time encouraged tens of thousands of foreigners to study in America—especially mathematics, science and engineering. Then after they graduate we expel them despite the fact that we have a great labor shortage of these technical skill areas. The result is that the American economy lags in one of its most important areas, high technology for lack of qualified people to fill the jobs. Larger American companies then set up operations overseas and hire many of the people who we kicked out, so they do not pay any taxes to America. The best and most ambitious of these American trained foreigners, then start their own businesses abroad, create many jobs that never benefit Americans and then sell to America competing with American firms. New York City alone had tens of thousands of open jobs at very high salaries for which there were no Americans to fill while the New York schools had trained enough foreigners to fill the jobs, but our national policies forced the best and the brightest to leave and compete with us.
Not all segments of the Republican Party perceived that they needed immigration reform. Some greatly feared more non-whites coming into the country and ending the traditional majority of whites. After the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was passed, almost all the racist Democrats of the “solid South” switched to the Republican Party and the last thing they want is to allow the 11 million mostly Hispanic and/or Black undocumented immigrants to become citizens and vote.
Pete Peña Gallego is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district from 2013 to 2015. Gallego, a member of the Democratic Party, previously served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 74th district beginning in 1991.
