Press Releases

U.S. Representative Mike Coffman (R-CO) will give the following floor speech this afternoon in support of keeping the amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that encourages military service among DREAMers. 

Representative Mo Brooks from Alabama has a floor amendment that will strip the language from the NDAA and Coffman is urging his colleagues to oppose Brooks’ amendment.

The pro-DREAMer language was added during the NDAA markup in the House Armed Services Committee, earning the support of six Republican Members, including Coffman.

More on the amendment language can be found here.

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I’m here today to ask my esteemed colleagues to stand with me in declaring: Let our DREAMers serve.

Let the young men and women who were brought here as children, through no fault of their own, serve their country.

Let them serve the country that educated them.

Let them serve the country they love.

Their ability to serve benefits us all. It provides an expanded pool of willing and capable applicants, helping to uphold and even increase the rigorous standards to enlist in our military.

The army recently tripled its pool of immigrant applicants, and DREAMers should be a part of that pool.

To those who claim that this is amnesty, I have a simple message: As a Marine Corps combat veteran I can assure you Parris Island ain’t amnesty!

As my late father told me, serving your nation in uniform is the highest expression of citizenship.

From German immigrants serving in the Continental Army at Valley Forge to the over 100,000 people who have been naturalized through the military since 2002, immigrants have always been a part of our fighting forces.

If DREAMers want to put their life on the line for this country, we should give them the opportunity and honor their willingness to serve.

I urge my colleagues to vote NO on the Brook’s amendment, which would to strip this provision from the NDAA.