Recognizing Ana M. Figueroa on Her Retirement After Thirty-One Years of Public Service

Floor Speech

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Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate Ana M. Figueroa, my District Chief of Staff who retired on March 4, 2022, after almost 30 years on my district staff. It also gives me great pleasure to help her celebrate her 53rd birthday today, September 14, 2022.

Ana is a proud Mexican immigrant born in the town of Cueramaro, Guanajuato. Her parents, Jose Dolores Figueroa and Consuelo Figueroa Laguna, immigrated to the United States with two of Ana's four siblings, Rigoberto, and Rosa Maria, in 1974 and settled in the Los Angeles area. Ana and her older sister, Maria Guadalupe, joined the family in Los Angeles one year later, reuniting the 7-member family which now included Ana's youngest sister, Maricela.

Ms. Figueroa grew up in Boyle Heights and the unincorporated East Los Angeles community. She attended Lorena Street Elementary School, Rowan Avenue Elementary School, Robert L. Stevenson Jr. High School and graduated from James A. Garfield High School in 1987. The proud Bulldog graduate then attended Occidental College where she majored in Cognitive Science and minored in Sociology.

Upon college graduation, Ana began her public service career with the office of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley as the assistant to his Liaison to the Latino Community and Eastside Area Coordinator in 1991.

In July 1992, Ana was recruited by my California State Assembly office to serve as a field representative for Southeast Los Angeles cities, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles in the 56th Assembly District. She was then promoted to field deputy when I was elected to represent the 33rd Congressional District in January 1993. She became Senior Field Deputy and Casework Director in June 1995, and my District Chief of Staff in May 1998.

Ana earned the respect and gratitude of staff, colleagues, and elected officials at the congressional, state, and local levels as a result of her effectiveness, collaborative leadership, unwavering commitment to community service, and outstanding dedication.

With impeccable integrity, compassion, and distinction, she served the constituents of the 33rd, 34th, and 40th Congressional Districts I represented through the years as the first Mexican American woman elected to the U.S. Congress.

Ana officially retired from the U.S. House of Representatives on March 4, 2022, after almost 30 years as a member of my district office team.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing and thanking Ana M. Figueroa for her 31 years as an exemplary public servant and extending sincere best wishes for a healthy, prosperous, and richly rewarding retirement, and a very happy 53rd birthday.

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