[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 166 (Wednesday, December 15, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10259-S10260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE DREAM ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last night I was on a conference call. 
It was an unusual one. There were 8,000 people on this conference call. 
I have never been on a conference call like that. They were from all 
across the United States of America. We spoke for a few minutes and 
then took questions.
  A young woman came on. She didn't give her name but she said, I want 
to tell you who I am. I am a person who is about to graduate from a 
major university in California with a degree in pharmacy and I have 
nowhere to go.
  You see, she is a Hispanic who came to the United States at an early 
age, brought here by her parents. She defied the odds by finishing high 
school. Half of the Hispanic students do not. She did. Then she defied 
the odds even more by going to college. Only one in twenty in her 
status actually attends college in America. Then she stuck around for 5 
years-plus to get her degree in pharmacy science.
  We know for a fact we need pharmacists desperately across America, 
everywhere, in North Carolina and New Mexico and Illinois--we need 
pharmacists. Why aren't we using the talent of this ambitious, 
energetic, successful, young woman? Because she has no country. She is 
in America but she is not an American. She has no status.
  The DREAM Act, which I introduced 10 years ago, addresses this 
challenge across America. Children, brought to America without a vote 
in the process, children who came here and made their lives here, grew 
up in America, as Senator Menendez has said on the floor, standing up 
and proudly pledging allegiance to that flag, standing up and singing 
the Star Spangled Banner at baseball and football games--but they know 
and we know that they are not Americans. They feel like Americans. Many 
of them have never seen and don't know the country they came from. This 
is their country. But because they were brought here not in legal 
status, undocumented, they have nowhere to turn.
  The first time I heard about this issue was when a Korean woman 
called me in Chicago. She was a single mom with three kids. She ran a 
dry cleaners and her older daughter was a musical prodigy, in fact so 
good she had been accepted at the Julliard School of Music in New York. 
Before she went to school she filled out the application form and came 
to a box which said ``nationality/citizenship.'' She turned to her mom 
and she said: U.S. nationality, right? Her mom said: No, we brought you 
here at the age of 2 and we never filed any papers. Her daughter said: 
What are we going to do? Her mom said: We are going to call Durbin. So 
they called my office and we called the Immigration Service and when 
the conversation ended it was very clear. Our government said to that 
young girl: You have one choice--leave. Go back to Korea.
  After 16 years of living successfully in the United States and making 
a great young life, our laws told her to leave because she was illegal. 
That is a basic injustice. It makes no sense to hold children 
responsible for any wrongdoing by their parents, children at the age of 
2 who are now going to be penalized the rest of their natural life 
because their mother did not file a paper? Penalized because we have no 
process for her to have an opportunity to be part of the United States?
  So I introduced the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act says if you have been 
here for at least 5 years and came below the age of 15 and completed 
high school, no serious criminal record, a person in good moral 
standing ready to be interviewed, speaking English, paying all the 
taxes and fines and fees that are thrown your way, then if you are 
willing to do one of two things we will give you a chance to be legal 
in the United States. No. 1, enlist in the military. If you are willing 
to risk your life and die for America, I think you are deserving of an 
opportunity for citizenship. Second, if you complete 2 years of 
college--which, as I say, defies the odds; it is a small percentage who 
would be able to do this--if you are able to complete 2 years of 
college, then here is what the bill says: We will put you in a 10-year 
conditional immigrant status.
  Let me translate. For 10 years you have no legal rights to any 
government programs in America--not Medicaid if you get sick, not Pell 
grants if you go further in college, no student loans--nothing. You can 
stay here legally but you cannot draw one penny from this government 
during 10 years after you have finished high school and qualify under 
this act; 10 years.
  Along the way we are going to keep an eye on you. If you stumble and 
fall--criminal record--you are gone. No exceptions; for felons, they 
are gone. Basically, we will continue to ask hard questions of you as 
to how you are doing.
  In the version of the bill we are going to vote on, you are going to 
pay a fee, $500 at the outset and more later. Under that House 
provision, those students struggling to get by with no right to 
government assistance by our bill will have to spend 10 years in this 
country. If they make it--2 years in the military or 2 years of college 
and they finish their 10 years--then they get in line and wait 3 to 5 
years more before they can ever have a chance to be citizens.

  It is a long, hard process that not many Americans today could 
survive. Some of these kids will because they have made it thus far. 
They are determined, they are idealistic, they are energetic. They are 
just what America needs.
  Do you know what Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, said about 
this:

       They are just the kind of immigrants we need to help solve 
     our unemployment problem. Some of them will go on to create 
     new small businesses and hire people. It is senseless for us 
     to chase out the home-grown talent that has the potential to 
     contribute so significantly to our society.

  Will these DREAM Act students be a drag, then, once they are part of 
America? Not according to the Congressional Budget Office. They 
concluded that the DREAM Act would produce $2.2 billion in net revenues 
over 10 years. How can that be? Because these DREAM Act students would 
contribute to our economy by working and paying taxes. These are 
students who are destined to be successful.
  Who believes they will be successful? Start at the Pentagon. 
Secretary of Defense Gates has asked for us to pass the DREAM Act. He 
has said that these bright, young, dedicated people will be great in 
service to America. He knows that many of them come from cultural 
traditions of service to their country and he wants that talent in the 
U.S. military and he wants that diversity in our military. Fifteen 
percent of America today is Hispanic. The number is growing. Almost 10 
percent of the people who vote in America are Hispanic and we want to 
make certain our military is as strong as it can be and reflects 
America as it is and what we want to it be.
  We will have a chance to vote. Senator Harry Reid, the majority 
leader, has said we are going to vote on the DREAM Act this year--and 
we must, we absolutely must. We owe it to these young people, we owe it 
to their families, and we owe it to this country to rectify this 
terrible injustice.
  There comes a time occasionally in the history of this country where 
we have a chance to right a wrong. We fought for decades over righting 
the wrong of slavery, the mistreatment of African Americans. We fought 
for decades to right the wrong of discrimination against women--denied 
the right to vote under our original Constitution. We fought for 
decades for the rights of the disabled in America. Each generation gets 
its chance to expand the definition of freedom and liberty and expand 
the reach of citizenship and the protection of our laws. This is our 
chance. This is a simple matter of justice.
  I have listened to some of my colleagues on the other side who do not 
support it and they have said, if we would spend more money on border 
security, then maybe, just maybe I would be willing to give these young 
people a chance.
  First, if there were no border security, it would not enlarge the 
number

[[Page S10260]]

of people protected here. You have to have been in the United States 
for 5 years in order to qualify here so any newcomers to the United 
States are not going to be eligible anyway. But let's get to the point. 
I support border security. We need a strong border. We need to make 
sure those who are illegal, undocumented, do not come across that 
border. I have voted for the money, I voted for the fences, I voted for 
the walls, I voted for everything they called for, and we have 
dramatically under this President increased the border security in 
America and I will vote for more. I will vote for more. I give my word 
to my colleagues I will.
  I have said to Senators from those border States: Count on me to be 
with you. But don't hold these children hostage to that demand. Don't 
hold them hostage to that demand because border security in and of 
itself has nothing to do with justice for them.
  Others have argued we want to make sure at the end of the day they 
can never become legal citizens of the United States. Never? After 
living their lives in this country, never? I would say: Go to the back 
of the line. And they should. Wait in line patiently, even if it takes 
15 years. That is only fair. But never?
  Others have said we should give them the military option. If they 
join the military, then we will let them become citizens. I don't think 
that is right and I don't believe the military would support that 
either because many would be applying for the military who are not 
inspired to serve in the military but are only doing it for the purpose 
of this law. Let's let those who are not going in the military have 
their own avenue, their own path to legalization by education and 
achievement in this society, not in the military.
  I would also say to my friends and colleagues, some have argued it is 
a little too close to Christmas for us to worry about an issue such as 
this. We ought to go home. These young people are home and they are 
asking for us to pass the DREAM Act so that home will welcome them.
  America is the only home they have ever known. I am willing to stay a 
day or two or more, whatever it takes, so we can pass this bill, right 
this injustice, and give these young people a chance.
  The House has done its part. They passed a bill last week. 
Congressman Luis Gutierrez and Congressman Howard Berman did a 
wonderful job in passing this legislation. It is good legislation. We 
have had 57 votes on the floor of the Senate but because of our rules 
you need 60. All I am asking is some of the Republicans who have told 
me in their heart of hearts they support this and worry about it 
politically, to put themselves in the shoes of our predecessors in the 
Senate who, when given a chance to expand the civil rights--of African 
Americans, of women, of the disabled--said that justice trumps 
politics. We will stand on the side of justice and let history be the 
judge. That is the challenge we have with the DREAM Act.
  I urge my colleagues, support the DREAM Act. Let's give these young 
people a chance to make America an even greater nation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

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