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Skriven 2006-06-08 23:34:32 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0606081) for Thu, 2006 Jun 8
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President Bush Attends National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 8, 2006

President Bush Attends National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast
J.W. Marriott Hotel
Washington, D.C.

President's Remarks view


8:08 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Luis. Thanks for your introduction.
Right before we came in, I said, Luis, how's your school doing? See, I got
to first know Luis when I went into inner-city Philadelphia, and he said,
I'm starting a school. I said, how's your school doing? He said, "Oh,
pretty good." He said, "Last year we had 69 of the 70 graduates from our
school go to college." (Applause.)

Luis' school is doing better than pretty good, it's doing great. And we
hold out hope to some kid, you know, that it's amazing what results we can
achieve in a society when you raise the bar, and you say, I have hope for
you; I love you. It's amazing what our country can achieve. And so, Luis,
thank you very much for your leadership, and thanks for having me here at
the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.

I think it is fitting we come together to recognize the importance of
prayer and the importance of faith. You see, Americans are a people of
faith. And for millions of our citizens, prayer is a daily part of life. In
prayer we give thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon us by our
Creator. We're blessed with courageous young men and women willing to
defend us in time of war. We're blessed with a growing economy and material
prosperity. And we're blessed by the diversity and creativity of millions
of Hispanic Americans who enrich our great country.

We've got plenty of blessings to give thanks for, and I'm blessed by the
fact that millions of Americans, many of whom I've never seen face-to-face,
pray for me and my family. It's one of the great blessings of America, to
be President of a land of prayer. (Applause.) So this morning we come
together to give our thanks for all our blessings, and recognize our
nation's continuing dependence on divine providence.

I appreciate the sponsors of this breakfast. It's an important breakfast.
This is a time for us to come together in common purpose to say we're
humble enough to be on bended knee. I appreciate my friend, Attorney
General Al Gonzales, for joining us today. It's good to see you.
(Applause.) Mi General. The Director of the Peace Corps, Gaddi Vasquez.
Thank you for coming, Gaddi; appreciate you being here. (Applause.) I see
Senator Brownback -- I think -- yes, there he is. (Laughter.) I know there
are other members of the Senate and the Congress who are here. Thank you
all for coming today, it's really important that you're here. And I know
the participants of this breakfast are glad you're here, as well. I
appreciate all the pastors and community leaders who are with us here
today, too. Thanks for coming.

In America, we are a people who profess many different faiths -- with some
of our citizens embracing no faith at all. In America, all are welcome. No
citizen stands above another. In America, what unites us all is our
dedication to freedom. And what brings us together today as men and women
of faith is our belief that we're all equal and precious in the eyes of the
Almighty.

I like to tell people that my job as the President is to promote the fact
that people are free to worship however you choose. See, that's what
distinguishes us from the Taliban or al Qaeda -- that we're free to worship
and that we're all equally American. If you're a Christian, Jew or Muslim,
you're equally American. If you choose not to worship, you're equally
American.

But I've also said, from my personal perspective, I rely upon the Almighty
for strength and comfort. (Applause.) The daily example of our Hispanic
communities reminds us that strong faith and strong families can build a
better future for all. We are more -- we're a more hopeful society because
men and women of Hispanic descent have put their faith and values into
action. (Applause.)

More than 200,000 Hispanic Americans serve with courage and honor in our
military, some of whom are with us today. And we thank you for your
service. (Applause.) Our government is enriched and strengthened by the
Latinos who serve here in Washington, D.C. Across America, Hispanic leaders
are serving on the front lines of our armies of compassion, reaching out to
change the lives of brothers and sisters in need, changing this great
country one heart, one soul at a time. (Applause.)

I like to remind people that government can hand out money, but government
cannot put faith in a person's heart, or a sense of purpose in a person's
life. The best way to strengthen this country is for people such as
yourself to continue to reach out to a neighbor in need, to listen to the
universal call to love a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved
yourself, to mentor to a child who needs to learn to read, to feed the
hungry, to provide shelter for the homeless.

And that's precisely what the leaders in this room do. You're inspired by
prayer, you move to action, and America is better off when you go into our
neighborhoods to reach out to those who hurt; to provide comfort for those
who are sick; to say loud and clear to a brother and sister in need, we
love you, and what can we do to help you? On behalf of a grateful nation, I
thank you for being soldiers in the armies of compassion, and for making
America a hopeful place for more of our citizens.

Speaking about a hopeful place, it is important for us in this important
debate on immigration to remember that we've always been a hopeful nation.
We are a land of immigrants. (Applause.) We're a country where people --
we're a compassionate people. We're also a nation of laws, and being a
nation of laws is not contradictory with being a compassionate country. We
can enforce our laws. And we can treat people with respect and treat people
with dignity and remember our heritage as a nation.

Immigration system isn't working today, and it needs to be fixed. Our
borders need to be secure. The American people from all walks of life
expect the government to secure our border. And we will do that.

The system isn't fixed -- the system is broken because we've got too many
citizens, too many people here, too many people living in our country,
living in the shadows of our society beyond the reach of the law. That's
not -- that's not -- that's not the America I know. The America I know is
one in which people are treated with respect; the America I know is one in
which when we see something broken, we fix it.

So we'll secure our borders. We'll make sure people who hire people
illegally pay a fine. But I want our fellow citizens to understand, you
cannot secure our borders, and you cannot be a compassionate society unless
we provide a legal channel for people to work in America. We've got people
coming across our borders who want to come and work and put food on the
table for their families. (Applause.)

When I was Governor of Texas, I reminded people, family values do not stop
at the Rio Grande River. There are people who are coming to our country who
are doing jobs Americans are not doing. (Applause.) And we need a legal and
orderly system. If we want to enforce the border, we must have a system
that says you don't have to sneak across our border in order to find work.
You don't need to risk your life.

So therefore, I strongly support, and call upon the Congress to support the
temporary worker program that says you can come into our country legally,
so that we can match willing worker with willing employer, doing jobs
Americans are not doing; and you can come for a period of time and you can
work, and then you can go home in an orderly way, as well.

The other part of this debate that's really important is, what do we do
with the folks that are here. See, there's a difference between those who
have newly arrived that are doing work and those who have been here for
quite a period of time. We've got people in this country who have paid
their taxes, own a home, whose children are becoming valedictorians in high
schools and colleges; people have been working hard.

This debate is -- there's a heated debate on this subject here in
Washington. There are some who say, well, best thing to do is just call
them citizens right off the bat. I disagree with that. It's called amnesty.
I don't think that would be fair to those who are legally here and are
waiting in line to become a citizen. You probably know many such citizens
-- they're here legally and they say, we want to be a citizen of your
country and we said, fine, get in line and wait. Granting amnesty to those
folks who have been here illegally would be unfair to those who have been
here legally. We're a nation of laws and we must uphold the laws.

And then there are those here in Washington who say, why don't we just find
the folks and send them home. That isn't going to work. That's not a good
idea. (Applause.) It sounds simple; it's impractical. There's a reasonable
middle ground. There's a reasonable way to uphold our laws and treat people
with respect, and that is this: if you've paid your taxes, you've been here
for a while, you can prove that you've been working, you've got a clean
background; if you want to become a citizen you pay a fine, you learn
English, you learn the values and ideals of America that have made us one
nation under God. (Applause.) And then if you want to be a citizen, you can
get in line -- but in the back of the line, not the front of the line. You
can wait in line, like those who have been legally here in America. We
don't have to choose between the extremes. There's a rational middle
ground.

I call upon Congress to enact common-sense immigration reform that enforces
our border, that upholds our laws, that treats people with respect, and
remembers the greatness of America is the fact that we've been able to come
from different backgrounds, united under the common ideals of our country
and we live one nation under God. (Applause.)

For centuries, people have come to this nation because it is the land of
promise. It's a place where people can realize their dreams. Yesterday I
was in Omaha, Nebraska, at a Catholic Charities institute that was helping
people learn English and learn the ideals of our country. I remember
walking into a civics class, and the people were slightly startled to see
the President walk in. I guess it's kind of the ultimate civics lesson.
(Laughter.) But I was proud to be there. I really was.

And we sat down with a group of folks at a table to discuss
entrepreneurship. And I went around the room, asking, how long have you
been here, and what are you doing? And I remember coming to the fellow, Pi
a -- I think his name was Federico Pi a. He said he started a couple years
ago a automobile maintenance business. He said it was a dream of his to
have his own business. I said, "How's it going?" He said, "Well, I've
employed three people, and I own my own building." Here's a man who came to
our country with a dream, and he's realizing that dream.

And what our citizens have got to understand is that if you're able to
maintain a sense of hope in the United States, and people work hard to
realize that hope, it inspires our nation as a whole. It lifts our spirit.
It reinvigorates what America is all about.

We have a great opportunity here in Washington to remember the traditions
and history of the United States of America and to uplift that sense that
America is a welcoming society, a country of law, but a country that also
says if you work hard and dream big dreams, you can realize your dreams.
And many of those who are in our country who are working hard to realize
their dreams also rely upon a higher power to help them realize those
dreams. And so I'm here to say thank you for your prayers, thank you for
your example, thank you for helping your fellow citizens, and thank you for
being great citizens of the United States of America.

Que Dios les bendiga. (Applause.)

END 8:23 A.M. EDT

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