2023 -- H 5272

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

HONORING AND CONGRATULATING BILLY A. LEIVA ON ACHIEVING HIS UNITED

STATES CITIZENSHIP AND FOR HIS DEDICATION AND TREMENDOUS WORK ETHIC

AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS

     Introduced By: Representatives Shekarchi, Newberry, Blazejewski, Place, Chippendale,
Fenton-Fung, Bennett, Edwards, Kennedy, and Tanzi

     Date Introduced: January 31, 2023

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, At just three days old, Billy Leiva arrived in the United States from

Guatemala undocumented, with his parents, Esther and Robert Leiva, who risked all in order to

give their family a better life. For decades, Billy lived in the United States under undocumented

status and sought to legalize his position, while denied the basic privileges and rights of those

born in this country, including the ability to work legally, obtain a driver’s license, or pursue

higher education; and

     WHEREAS, With his parents and two siblings, Robert Leiva, Jr., a Support Center

Representative at Harvard University Employees Credit Union, and Jamie Leiva, the Director of

Creative Donor Engagement at Harvard Medical School, Billy and his family have overcome

many challenges to achieve the American Dream; and

     WHEREAS, Billy’s path for more than three decades has been teeming with both

educational and personal achievements. He became the first President of his elementary school,

was a recipient of the President’s Education Award Program given by President Bill Clinton for

Outstanding Academic Achievement, and made the National Honor Society during his years at

Johnston Senior High School; and

     WHEREAS, In addition, Billy is a director of Hope Generations, a nonprofit organization

that assists people in bettering their lives through faith, was a member of the 2022 Sigma II Core

Program on leadership development, is a Volar team member for the Boys & Girls Club, a youth

career mentoring program, and participated in the Eastern Leadership Academy Program

sponsored by the Council of State Governments in Philadelphia in August of 2022; and

      WHEREAS, From cleaning bathrooms to working as a youth mentor, digital marketer,

film-maker, designer, motivational speaker, and aircraft pilot, Billy Leiva has and will most

assuredly always be an avid learner, striving to grow and face new challenges; and

     WHEREAS, Currently, Billy is a TV technician with Capitol TV for the General

Assembly, but there is little doubt that his passion for public policy and law will lead to new

horizons in his future; and

     WHEREAS, The journey towards becoming a United State citizen is an arduous and

complicated process that can take years of uncertainty, determination, perseverance and hope.

Billy’s story has now culminated in his attaining citizenship on October 21, 2022, at the US

Citizenship & Immigration Services Building in Johnston, and his achievement is well-deserved

and worthy of recognition and praise; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

congratulates Billy Leiva on obtaining his United States Citizenship and honors and commends

him for all he has already accomplished and all that we know he will continue to achieve; and be

it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Billy A. Leiva.

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