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Liberia Designation Extension

Floor Speech

Date: July 30, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Aid Immigration


LIBERIA DESIGNATION EXTENSION -- (House of Representatives - July 30, 2007)

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Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3123, a bill that will extend temporary immigration status for Liberian refugees here in the United States. Minnesota is proud to be the home of over 1,000 Liberian refugees, people who have became our friends and neighbors. Forcing them to return now would be an injustice to not only the Liberians themselves, but to everyone in Minnesota who has come to care for their welfare.

The civil war that shook their county in the early 1990s left 150,000 people dead and nearly a million others displaced. These 1,000 refugees turned to America in their hour of need, and Madam Speaker, I am proud to serve in the Congress of a country that has been willing to help these individuals in their time of greatest hardship.

It has been well over a decade since these Liberian refugees sought Minnesota as a home, and since then they have become upstanding citizens, an important part of the fabric that makes up our communities and economies and neighborhoods. Madam Speaker, I strongly request that my colleagues join me in supporting H.R. 3121


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