California’s new Senator, Kamala Harris, delivered her maiden speech on the Senate floor Thursday, addressing the contributions of immigrants to society. This is a transcript of her remarks.
I rise today humbled to offer my first official speech as the junior United States senator from the great state of California.
I rise with a deep sense of reverence for this institution, for its history, and for its unique role as a defender of our nation’s ideals.
Above all, I rise today with a sense of gratitude for all those upon whose shoulders we stand.
For me, it starts with my mother, Shyamala Harris.
She arrived at the University of California, Berkeley, from India in 1959 with dreams of becoming a scientist. 
The plan, when she finished school was to go back home to a traditional Indian marriage. But when she met my father Donald Harris, she made a different plan. She went against a practice reaching back thousands of years, and instead of an arranged marriage, chose a love marriage.
This act of self-determination made my sister Maya and myself. And it made us Americans, like millions of children of immigrants before and since.
And I know she’s looking down on us today.
And knowing my mother, she’s probably saying, “Kamala, what on earth is going on down there? We have got to stand up for our values!”
So in the spirit of my mother, who was always direct, I cannot mince words.
In the early weeks of this administration, we have seen an unprecedented series of executive actions that have hit our immigrant and religious communities like a cold front, striking a chilling fear in the hearts of millions of good hardworking people.
To read the entire transcript posted by the Editor, visit, http://timesofsandiego.com/opi...-truth-mr-president/
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