Pramila Jayapal

“It is always easier to have somebody to blame, but immigrants are not the cause of the country's economic woes.”

“President Trump has harnessed the fear and prejudice that have accompanied every wave of immigrants in United States history, and stoked those fears to further his own agenda.”

“Having a strong race lens means you understand racism is threaded through and institutionalized in all of our systems and our very perceptions, threaded through how someone looks at you, treats you, thinks about you and your potential.”

“I am on the side of the working person across the country.”

“Certainly there are many Congress members who have been arrested in the past on immigration issues and will continue to because we all understand that staying silent is not an option.”

“As an immigrant, I have lived, in a way, the American dream, and I want to make sure that opportunity is available for everybody.”

“I am not a woman on Monday, an immigrant on Tuesday, a worker on Wednesday, and a mom on Thursday, I am all of those things all of the time, and I am going to fight for all of those things all of the time.”

“There's nothing normal about graduating with massive student debt, where you live in fear of predatory debt collectors and wage garnishers even as you are starting to live your life.”

“The vast majority of immigrants - regardless of the conditions of war and poverty that may wrack their home countries - come and contribute to their new home country: building our roads, caring for our homes, children, and elders, and serving as doctors, lawyers, employers, and innovators.”

“I've always thought of the United States as a place where so much was possible and so many opportunities were out there.”

“This is the country that we are turning over to young people, and there is going to be no country left at this rate because Trump is destroying the soul of who we are.”

“Statistics are just a compilation of people's stories put on paper, and legislation is our attempt to address those real challenges for people.”

“I became an immigrant, civil and human rights advocate, then the first South Asian elected to the Washington State Legislature and the only woman of color in the Washington State Senate, and then was elected in 2016 to the United States Congress.”

“Regardless of who is elected president in 2016, we all still live together. Each of us has a different role to play, but we all have to hold the collective space for movement-building together. It's the only way we move forward.”

“It took me 17 years to become a U.S. citizen.”

“I usually wake up really early because I keep myself on East Coast time.”

“I love my district, the 37th Legislative District in Washington State, where I have lived for more than 20 years.”

“I never thought I would run for office.”

“My big idea is that democracy can only work properly if you have truly representative people at the table.”

“Sometimes when really terrible things happen, something beautiful emerges out of it.”