WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today joined with Latino families across the country to celebrate El Día de los Niños, which recognizes the importance of investing in our nation's children as the center of our families and our country's future generation. Last week, the Senators introduced a Senate Resolution to mark the celebration and declare it a national holiday. It passed by Unanimous Consent on April 25, 2013.

"I am proud to introduce once again a resolution celebrating El Día de los Niños to recognize the importance of providing our children with the resources they need to reach their full potential," said Senator Menendez. "Our nation's prosperity and the quality of life for Americans will depend on the quality of the education our children receive. It is in our national economic interest to ensure all of our children are successful, and I thank Senate Majority Leader Reid for joining me in introducing this important resolution. I reaffirm my commitment to continuing to solve the issues faced by our nation's youth, and as a member of the bipartisan group of senators fighting for a comprehensive reform to our broken immigration system, I pledge to continue working with my colleagues so that all our communities can achieve their full potential by becoming US Citizens who can fully participate in American life and fully contribute to the American economy through their ingenuity, skills, and hard work."

"In Nevada's playgrounds, one out of every three kids under five is Latino, and in the United States, one out of every four of these children is Hispanic. But many of these children may not reach their full potential if we fail to invest in them today. As a father of five and grandfather of sixteen, I've seen at home how important a healthy childhood is for our nation's future," said Senator Reid. "I join parents and our youth as they celebrate this Día de los Niños with cultural festivities and other events, promoting education and highlighting the importance of our next generation of leaders. As we debate the bipartisan commonsense immigration reform bill, I will continue to work to get this bill over the finish line. This issue is personal for me and critical to the well-being of children and their families. The stories I often hear in Nevada's communities tug at the heartstrings. Our broken system tears families apart every day, and we need to fix it once and for all."

The original cosponsors for the "El Día de los Niños: Celebrating Young Americans" Senate Resolution (S.Res.125) are Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA).

The full text of the resolution is available online HERE.

BACKGROUND

  • According to the 2011 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 17,400,000 of the nearly 52,000,000 individuals of Hispanic descent living in the United States are children under the age of 18, representing more than 33 percent of the total Hispanic population residing in the United States.
  • Approximately 1 in 5 United States public school students is Hispanic, and the U.S. Census Bureau projects that the number of school-age Latino children will be 28,000,000 in 2050.
  • According to Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the 2000 Census and 2011 American Community Survey, the high school dropout rate for Hispanic teens (ages 16-19) residing in the U.S. has declined significantly from 17.5 percent in 2000 to 6.8 percent in 2011; however, college enrollment for Latinos between the ages of 18-24 lags behind all other racial/ethnic groups (32.9 percent in 2011, compared to 47 percent of non-Hispanic Whites, 37.2 percent of non-Hispanic Blacks, and 66.3 percent of non-Hispanic Asians). Additionally, only 13.4 percent of Latinos ages 25 and older are college graduates.
  • Hispanic children under 18 continue to represent the largest group of children living in poverty in the U.S. and the largest group of children lacking health insurance.

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