After Rep. Grace Napolitano casts her vote on the House floor, she always heads straight for the same corner: the “barrio in the back,” as it’s called by those who know it.

Just to the right of the door closest to the elevators, near the back of the House chamber, congregate those lawmakers who are fluent in Spanish. There they chat about “anything and everything,” the California Democrat said, from a piece of legislation to a newly drawn district to a family member’s health.

“That’s our little area,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll find other Members sitting there and we’ll ask if they got permission. ‘What’s your password, you need the password.’ And we’ll start laughing. … It’s very cordial, sometimes its comical. There’s always pranksters in our midst. They prank in English and in Spanish.”

The same group of lawmakers usually frequents the corner, including Reps. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas), Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), José Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.). Most who congregate there are Democrats from California or Texas, though the group welcomes anyone, especially those who speak Spanish.

“If you’re a Republican coming up, they just chat, they don’t say go away,” said Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), who learned Spanish while in El Salvador with the Peace Corps. “I’ve never seen them reject anybody.”