Joe Garcia

It shows courage, and it shows commitment to move beyond the status-quo politics of rhetoric, which is all the Cuban-American community has received from any party for the last half century.

A day does not go by when I am not in a line at a store or at a McDonald's, and someone will touch my hand, and they will say, 'Thank you.'

Cubans have no bar to being legalized once they are in America. All other Hispanics - with the exception of Puerto Ricans - have to go through a broken, dysfunctional process. One group is American from day one. And all the rest are trying to be.

We live in the world's greatest democracy; we want for nothing. And that which we want, we can work toward achieving.

The reason there's not a dictatorship in Chile and that there's a democracy in South Africa and Portugal today - and that Haiti has a nascent democracy - is that the world community as a whole felt outraged. This is the reason Milosevic sits in a jail in The Hague. It's because the world has said, 'Enough.'

In undergraduate school, I chose a career path that always leads to certain unemployment: I majored in politics and public affairs with a double-minor in philosophy and history.

Looking for a job, I was working with the Salvadoran American Foundation, a humanitarian aid group, and from there, I got an offer from the Cuban-American National Foundation.

Visionless status quo policy towards Latin-America, particularly towards Cuba, has turned off a lot of people, and I think it's created an opening.

Sending $300 to your grandma in Cuba doesn't change the dynamic with Castro.

When members of this House use inflammatory language, use offensive language, it does not help the process. It is beneath the dignity of this body and this country.

The world's longest-serving dictator has just stepped down and handed over power. The national project of Cuba, which was Fidel's vision, is now finished. It's something - a small something, but still something.

The Republican Party views Hispanics in terms of market share: Who are they? How do we reach them? Democrats still view us in terms of quotas.

The Cold War has ended for America.

Family is more important than ideology.

You can still do the Big Lie in Miami and get away with it. This is a town where the basic institutions have collapsed.

The last time the Diaz-Balarts were removed from power, it took a revolution, and we ended up with Fidel Castro.

If you give everybody a good government job, there's no crime.

The growth of purposeful travel is a good thing. It can have a positive impact. We should continue to experiment and move along this line.

The truth is that the driver in policy is not the relationship between the United States and Cuba, but the relationship between Cubans, and that is far stronger than 50 years of intragovernment hostility.

When you remove just some of the barriers, people do what people do: help their families.

Thousands of people in my district need health insurance, and ACA is helping them. I'm committed to do everything I can to help people get enrolled and get covered, and that includes moving needed reforms for the bill and helping people find affordable coverage.

I think more civil society programs, more free enterprise, more contacts with their fellow brethren in Miami - that's good for the long-term, and that's an investment in America's long-term relationship with the Cuban people, not the Cuban government.

Everybody wants to have the president talk about their issue.

Fidel Castro had to sit there while he was given a speech on democracy, something the Cuban people have not been able to hear for 43 years.

There is no question that I loved representing the people of South Florida.

I've been a loud voice as a Democratic leader for years, but that's not my job now. My job is to represent fishermen and farmers - everyone.

There is nothing that I didn't get to do while I was serving in Congress - except be in the majority.

I will never be done with South Florida.

We have all seen Washington politicians fail us.

Right here at home, we have seen what happens when a politician breaks that public trust, when they are dishonest and corrupt.

John Kerry's record on Cuba is pretty bad.

Bush is the Liberace of Cuban politics. He knows how to play us. He says every single thing they want to hear.

I'm have one of the most, if not the most, moderate voting records in Congress in the Florida delegation.

Our policies should be to help develop civil society and increase contacts with people.

I worked for the Cuban American National Foundation for years.

Scandals, corruption, partisan infighting - no wonder people have lost faith in Congress. I say enough is enough.

People in Cuba are victims.

Thousands of people perish in the Straits of Florida every year. We understand it within the context of the Cuban reality.

More people die on a yearly basis crossing the Florida Straits than ever died trying to cross the Berlin Wall.

The Mariel boatlift was probably one of the most strengthening events of the exile community; maybe Nietzschean, in the sense that if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger.

To say that I could manipulate one of the men who has shown the most courage before the Cuban government, who gets beaten every day, who did a hunger strike that freed political prisoners... I think that's absurd.

The reality is that people know my character, and they know my service.

We deserve quality jobs that pay a living wage, lower college tuition, action on climate change, and comprehensive immigration reform.

We did great things when we were in Congress, and I want to continue work on the issues that matter to South Florida, because we deserve better.

I want to go back to Congress and get to work on making a real difference for the families and workers of South Florida.

The Democratic voters of the 26th district know me well, and I am confident I will have their support.

We have to be realistic: we are not going to be able to deport 11 million people - most are hard-working people.

As much as people want to call me a bomb-thrower, look at my record.

There is nothing to regret with a job well done.

I think what we have to do is speak about the issues and speak about my record.