 Please welcome the Commissioner of the Department of Aging, Lorraine Cortes Vazquez. Good evening, my people. How are you? I'm good. Good evening. Welcome to the Hispanic Heritage Celebration at Gracie Mansion. La Etacasa es su casa. It's great to see many of you. But come here. Come here. Let's talk a little bit here. It's great to see you. Where are the Puerto Rican people here? And the Dominican people. And let's see the Mexicans. Where are they? Colombians. We are always here with you. We are very, very happy that you're here with us. New York has always been the home of immigrant communities for centuries. And now it is the home of many, many Latinos. As we said earlier, first it was Puerto Ricans, then it was Dominicans, and now the Latino community represents many, many countries in Central and South America. We are really proud of the work that the Latino community does. We work every day. We serve our community. We start businesses. We love New York, and New York loves us. I am really proud today to say that Latinos are a force in New York. Make sure that our voices are heard, but not tonight, guys. You got to listen up a little bit, alright? There we go. You are a force. Make sure that you use the numbers, and make sure that you are a political force also. You've got to make sure that our children, our uncles, our aunts all go out and register to vote. That is how we get leaders like our mayor, Eric Adams, who welcomes Latinos in New York. But I'm going to tell you something. It is because of Mayor Adams that we have individuals in this administration like Manuel Castro, our Commissioner of Immigration. Give it up for Manuel. Manuel has been an advocate in New York well before he became Commissioner, well before. He has served on many Latino boards. He led the advocacy campaign for New York Immigration Coalition, and he also now serves as a board member. Prior to becoming Commissioner, he was also Executive Directors of the Immigration Community Empowerment. Now he brings all of that knowledge to serve as Commissioner, and how blessed is New York to have him as Commissioner during this challenging time for Latinos. So let me tell you, mi gente, give it up, give a good shout out to our Commissioner of Immigration, Manuel Castro. Thank you. My name is Manuel Castro, and I'm the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs. And it is my honor to be here tonight to welcome you to our Hispanic Heritage Celebration at Gracie Mansion, and to introduce to you, Nuestro Alcalde Mayor Eric Adams. But first, I'd like to acknowledge our fellow Latinos and leadership here tonight, maybe not here, but in our administration. Of course, Comisionada Lorraine Cortés Vazquez. Un aplauso. Comisionado Idanis Rodriguez. Comisionado Luis Molina. Comisionada Vilda Mayuga. Comisionado Adolfo Carrion. Comisionada Anabel Palma. And a very special shout out to Chaplain Doctor Ingris Lewis, Chief Advisor to the Mayor and proud Panamanian American. Un aplauso, bravo. Of course, we are here to celebrate our Latino roots, but also remember the work we have done over the past years, very difficult years, and the work still ahead of us, and how we do this work. For me, it starts with the Mayor's directive to lead from the front. And from day one, Mayor Eric Adams has demonstrated that he will be on the frontline with us. So for that reason, on the first day that asylum seekers began to arrive to Port Authority from the Mexican U.S. border sent by Governor Avid, I and my team showed up at Port Authority to welcome these families and individuals to support them through their journeys and to make sure that they know we're different from Texas and that we are here to support them. Y dadela bienvenida. Unfortunately, and I will never forget this, the first asylum seeker that I met with all hopes and with all dreams that I know we can all empathize with. Standing at Port Authority, he asked me, and how do I get to Portland, Oregon? How do I get to Portland, Oregon from here? And there I knew that Governor Avid was taking advantage of these asylum seekers. And I'll never forget that on that same night, I invited Mayor Eric Adams to join me for the next bus that was arriving from the border. And he agreed without hesitation. And when he joined me, he met a mother with a five year old who had traveled 50 hours from the border after having crossed so many borders and having gone through such a difficult journey. And he met that family with compassion and with those values that we all cherish. And that five year old, same age as I was when I crossed the Mexico-U.S. border with my mother. And I will never forget that because you all know that the mayor didn't have to come that first day. You all know that the mayor could have waited weeks, could have waited months. But he understood that this was about human dignity. He understood that this was to fight and protect for the values that make our city and our country the beacon of hope for so many in the world. And for that, I thank Mayor Eric Adams. So to my Latinos here tonight and across New York City, know that in Mayor Eric Adams you have a champion for our communities who will fight for us against those who insist on spreading hate and fear toward Latino and immigrant communities. And finally, I am incredibly proud to serve in this administration under the leadership of Mayor Eric Adams that will end together. We will show the country and the world what it's truly like to lead with compassion and conviction. And so with that, and I know the mayor is meeting some of his fans. And with that, please join me in welcoming our mayor of the City of New York Mayor Eric Adams. Hola, mi gente. Let me tell you, when you do an analysis of my success, my success of becoming the mayor of the City of New York is because of this community, because of this community. I will never, never, never forget hanging out with some of you in Washington Heights, hanging out in the Bronx, hanging out in Queens, hanging out in Manhattan. I'll never forget that when people thought it was impossible, you came out over and over and over again. And that is why when I took office, I did not forget the people who brought me to the dance. They are dancing with me as the mayor of the City of New York. My commissioner of aging, we have known each other for so long. We have soldier together. A dreamer, a dreamer. A dreamer in the commissioner of the mayoral office of immigrant affairs. That's how much. Commissioner Castro is a dreamer. That is how, that is how God works. During the time that we needed someone to help people who are going through a lot, we have a commissioner who has gone through a lot and commissioner Castro. And as we deal with the challenges of our brothers and sisters who have fallen off the wrong direction and committed crimes, we needed a commissioner who had the compassion to understand that because you broke the law, this should not be treated in an undignified manner. That is why I have commissioned a malino, the first Latino to become the commissioner in the Department of Correction. You look around my administration and you see yourselves because I am you. I am you. I am the first mayor that has come from you. I came from you. We are the same. It didn't stop there. When I needed a marshal, a sheriff, what did I look? I looked to the Spanish-speaking community and appointed Sheriff Miranda who's in the back. You look all over my administration and you see people who have weathered and fought so hard and so long for you. This is our moment. This is our time. And we're going to go into the communities that have been ignored and abandoned for so many years and fight on your behalf. So don't listen to all the noise. Don't listen to all the distraction. When the haters attempt to say, we are not going to be focused, all you have to say, we know Eric and Eric knows us. That's what you need to say. And so tonight, as we lift up the Hispanic community, as we acknowledge your successes, you pick a country in the Spanish-speaking community and you'll see I've been there. I don't care if it's Peru, if it's the R, if it's Puerto Rico, if it's in Venezuela, if it's in any of the countries where my Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters come from, I know you because I visit your homelands. And so when you hear this noise of telling people to go back to their countries, we all came from somewhere. So if someone ever say go back to your country, you tell them you will when they go back to theirs because everybody came from somewhere, no one was here automatically. And so let me end with this. Let me end with this. Saturday, Saturday Commissioner Castro, I was in the Bronx and standing to the right of me was a young man. He was holding his two children and his wife were standing next to him. He did not speak English, so the translator came over to me and stated that this young man was thrown out of Texas, treated unfairly, placed on the bus and traveled 45 hours without medical care, food for his children. He stated that he was afraid and then the bus pulled into the Port Authority. And when he stepped off the bus, the first thing he saw was the mayor of the city of New York saying we're going to be here for you. He said, I heard that the mayor was going to be at this event and I wanted to come here and tell him thank you. Those two babies are no different than my son. These are human beings. We are obligated to be there for each other. It's going to be tough. Let's not kid ourselves. It's going to be tough. It's going to be challenging. But history is going to be kind to us as a city because instead of giving in to our fears, we stood up to who we are. And you cannot call yourselves a Christian if you don't act like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They would be with the people who are sick and housing right now. They would be with the people who are hurting right now. That's why we're doing what we're doing. And we need each other during this moment. You know that more than I. And so I want to thank you. Not only for your support, for what you have done, for what you are doing and what we will do in the future. This city is our city. Gracie Manson is your mansion. I leave you with just one word. Mikasa Sukasa.