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" After 9/11, I had just become an American citizen, and I remember sitting in front of my TV set watching the news of the attacks, in tears. I remember thinking to myself, 'Nothing is ever going to be the same in this country for people who look like me.' "

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" 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. "

Pramila Jayapal

Home

War

Children

" I'm the first South Asian woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. "

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

" If there is one thing that resonates for women, it is that regardless of where we come from or what we look like, we want to be fully recognized for the breadth of our contributions. "

" Trump can embrace dictators and gulags, but we the people stand for human rights, for dignity, for keeping families together. "

" We have to take our anger and rage and channel it into building, growing, loving, holding each other up. "

" Immigrants contribute more than they take. It is a lie that they take public benefits, because they don't qualify for just about every benefit. "

" Immigration is about more than just who comes here and who is allowed to stay. It is about who we are as a country and what we are willing to stand up for. "

" For immigrant women, fighting for some of the standard platforms of the women's movement may feel unthinkable when deportation is staring you in the face every day. "

" Compromise for compromise sake is never good, unless it is grounded in principles. "

" We don't get a more responsive government unless we start to systematically run organizing campaigns to change the way government works. "

" There were not that many people who were willing to come out and stand up for Muslims or stand up against the abuses of the Bush administration. That was post-9/11, so I think there was a lot of fear at the time about exactly what that meant - were they unpatriotic if they stood up? "

Pramila Jayapal

Fear

Time

" Before running for the Washington State Senate in 2014, I had spent 20 years as an activist. I had always believed that we needed to push for change on the outside, through community organizing and advocacy. "

" I was on the committee that helped raise the minimum wage here in Seattle. I introduced a statewide bill to raise the minimum wage in Washington state my first year in the state senate, and I really believe that raising the federal minimum wage, while not the answer to everything, addresses a lot of the issues at the very bottom. "

" My message to women - including women of color - stand strong. Refuse to be minimized or patronized. Let all the small guys out there be intimidated by you. "

" As we say we fight for working people, we have to make sure our policies reflect that. "

" I came to the United States by myself when I was 16 years old. My parents had about $5,000 in their bank account, and they used it all to send me here because they truly believed that this country was where I was going to get the best education and have the best opportunities. "

" The American people expect their leaders to condemn white supremacy in unambiguous terms. President Trump not only failed at condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis, he stood up for them - for that, he must be censured. "

" I have a little yoga ritual that I do just to move my body around. Whatever I do, it's usually very fast because often I don't have the kind of time that I would like to. "

Pramila Jayapal

Body

Fast

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

" We must be clear: Donald Trump is lying when he conflates immigrants coming across the border with MS-13 gangs. "

" We need to incentivize states across our country to spend on higher education and ensure that we go back to allowing people to go to college tuition-free. "

" When I was a little girl, my dad always said to me that I was going to be this great businesswoman, that I was going to be the CEO of IBM. So that's what I came into the world thinking, that I was going to go into the business world and make my mark there. "

" Some people have called me the anti-Trump, and I'm so proud. "

" 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 want to remind women of color out there to stand your ground, and don't ever be afraid to speak up. "

" There is no question that we, as a country, need to deal with economic inequality across the country, and we need to make sure we have good-paying jobs for everyone. "

" 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. "

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

" 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. "