[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 70 (Thursday, May 19, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3160-S3162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             THE DREAM ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we have been speaking on the Senate floor 
about students who are being exploited by for-profit colleges. I think 
about turning on the television in Washington and the ad that really 
troubles me which shows a lovely young woman who says: You can go to 
college in your pajamas. You don't even have to get out of bed to go to 
college. And she has a computer on the bed.
  It strikes me that--I don't believe anybody should fall for that, but 
some must, and they end up signing up for these for-profit schools, 
getting deep in debt, with a worthless diploma when it is all over. The 
exploitation of veterans, Senator Harkin is bringing that out. I hope 
the people who are going to give the patriotic speeches in this Chamber 
about our love of country and our love for the men and women in uniform 
will love them enough to put an end to this exploitation.
  I wish to speak about the DREAM Act. It is legislation which I first 
introduced 10 years ago and came to my office when we were approached 
by a Korean-American woman in Chicago whose daughter was brought to the 
United States when the little girl was 2 years old. She was brought on 
a visitor's visa. Her mom stayed, had other children, started a 
business. Eventually, she became a naturalized citizen. The other 
brothers and sisters were born in the United States, but this young 
girl who was brought from Korea literally had no papers filed.
  Well, she turned out to be an amazing concert pianist. She was 
accepted at the Julliard School of Music. When she went to apply and 
was asked about her citizenship, her mom realized she had never done 
anything about her daughter's citizenship. So they called our office. 
We checked, and the laws of the United States were very clear. They 
said this young girl who had never remembered ever being in Korea was 
told to return to Korea and wait at least 10 years to try to get back 
into the United States. I thought that was unfair. It turns out she 
wasn't alone.
  Young people all across the United States, who were brought here by 
their parents, undocumented, have lived their lives here, have gone to 
school here, have grown up here, have pledged allegiance to the flag in 
the classrooms here, have known no other flag or National Anthem, and 
then they learn as they graduate from high school they are without a 
country. They have no place to go.
  For many of them, it is a rude awakening, after all the effort they 
put into school, to realize they can't do anything. They can't qualify 
for student loans even at good schools. They can't qualify for a lot of 
jobs they might otherwise have if they graduate--engineers, nurses, 
doctors, teachers--because they have no citizenship.
  So I said: Let's at least agree on something basic. You shouldn't 
hold a child responsible for the wrongdoing of their parents. I hope we 
all agree on that.
  Secondly, if we have spent so much time and resources in giving this 
young person a chance to be educated, and they have paid us back by 
working hard at graduating, isn't it in the best interests of America 
to give them a chance to help our country move forward?
  That is why I introduced the DREAM Act. It says: If you graduated 
from high school--if you came to this country under the age of 16 and 
you graduated from high school, you have had no serious problems with 
the law, you have had no issues of moral character, and you go on to do 
one of two things--either serve in our military or finish at least 2 
years of college--we will give you a chance to become legal in America. 
It is called the DREAM Act. We have been considering it for 10 years.
  Last December, the Senator from New Mexico knows we voted on it.

[[Page S3161]]

Fifty-five votes on the Senate floor--a majority but not enough. There 
was a Republican filibuster requiring 60 votes. We fell short. We had 
three Republicans join us in voting for it. We lost a handful of 
Democrats. We are going at it again.
  I have reintroduced the bill. The reason I have done it is because 
the challenge is still there. These young people are still out there, 
and their lives are still hanging in the balance. I think it is time to 
give these young people a chance. I don't want to give them amnesty. I 
want them to earn everything they are going to get. If they have to pay 
a fine or tax on the way, so be it. They will pay it. They are 
determined to become part of America. These are young people who have 
become superstars in their own rights.
  By every account they are the leaders of tomorrow but for the fact 
that they don't have citizenship or legal status in America. The DREAM 
Act is supported by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He believes it will 
bring diversity to our Armed Forces. It is also supported by General 
Colin L. Powell, a man I respect very much, who believes, as I do, that 
we should give these young people a chance.
  This DREAM Act will stimulate our economy with a lot of new people in 
professions we need to have filled, including nurses and teachers, 
engineers, doctors, and lawyers. That is why the DREAM Act has the 
support of such a diverse group, including Rupert Murdoch and the CEOs 
of companies such as Microsoft and Pfizer.
  Every day I get contacted by these students across America. They keep 
looking to us and wondering if the day will come when we will give them 
their chance.
  I wish to share two stories very quickly this evening. This is Elier. 
I will show his photo because he is a handsome young man. Elier's 
parents brought him to the United States in 1994 when he was 4 years 
old. He is a computer wizard. In high school he won awards for 
outstanding achievement in science and information technology. He 
graduated in the top 5 percent of his high school class. He was named 
Tech Prep Student of the Year in Cincinnati, OH. He has even started a 
computer repair business.
  Now, Elier is a 19-year-old honors student at the University of 
Cincinnati majoring in information technology with a 3.8 GPA. Here is 
what one of his professors said about Elier:

       I have worked with thousands of students over the past 30 
     years and Elier Lara is that student who comes along every 10 
     years or so who just makes your heart sing.

  Elier sent me a letter, and here is what he said in the letter:

       Technology and computers is where I want to spend the rest 
     of my life. I'm sure I'll find my place on the forefront of 
     the technological frontier, implementing and discovering the 
     new technologies of the future. I am dreaming big and will 
     continue to do so.

  Can we use a person with those talents in America? You bet we can--in 
Illinois, in New Mexico, in Ohio. Look at leading American technology 
companies such as Google, Yahoo, Intel, and eBay. They were founded by 
immigrants to the United States. That could be Elier's future and part 
of America's future.
  Here is the sad part of the story of this otherwise amazing young 
man. Elier is in deportation proceedings. After having won all the 
awards for a great academic background and demonstrating the kind of 
leadership we need in America, our government has officially decided it 
is time for him to leave. Here is what he said about being deported:

       I have been living in the United States for the last 
     fourteen years of my life. The most important years of my 
     life were spent here in America. I cannot speak, read or 
     write . . . Spanish. I have never been back to Mexico since 
     the day we moved here.

  At the age of 4.

       Mexico is not home for me and I fear going back.

  So would it be a good use of taxpayer dollars to deport this young 
man and send him back to a country where he can barely speak a few 
words of the language--a place he can never remember?
  Elier has asked the Department of Homeland Security to grant him a 
stay, and I am going to work hard to make sure he gets it. I do not 
know if I will be successful. It makes no sense for us to lose Elier. 
He has so much to contribute, and we need to have him here.
  In the past, I have spoken about Oscar Vazquez. Oscar is a student 
from Arizona. I would like to update you on Oscar's situation because 
while we take our time addressing this issue, the lives of these young 
people go on.
  Oscar Vazquez was brought to Phoenix, AZ, by his parents when he was 
a child. He spent his high school years in Junior ROTC, as we can see 
from his uniform. He dreamed of enlisting in the military. Here is a 
picture of him in his uniform.
  But at the end of his junior year, a recruiting officer told Oscar he 
was ineligible to serve in our military because he was undocumented. 
Oscar found another outlet for his talent. He entered a college-level 
robot competition sponsored by NASA. Oscar and three other DREAM Act 
students--the four of them--worked for months in a storage room in 
their high school. They were competing against students from MIT and 
other top universities. Oscar's team won first place.
  This is Oscar today. I show you an updated photo--a good-looking 
young man.
  In 2009, he graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in 
mechanical engineering. He was one of the top three students in his 
class at Arizona State.
  Following his graduation, he took a brave step. He voluntarily 
returned to Mexico--a country where he had not lived since he was an 
infant--and he said:

       I decided to take a gamble and [try to] do the right thing.

  Last year, the Obama administration granted Oscar a waiver to reenter 
the United States. Without this waiver, Oscar would have been barred 
from returning to the United States for at least 10 years. He would 
have been separated from his wife Karla and their 2-year-old daughter 
Samantha, both of whom are American citizens.
  When Oscar returned to the United States last year, he did two 
things. He applied for citizenship, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army. 
He is in basic training right now. He wants to be an Apache helicopter 
pilot.
  In June, Oscar will complete basic training and be sworn in as an 
American citizen. The story of Oscar Vazquez is the story of America, 
and it is the story of the DREAM Act. This young man, determined to 
serve in our military, was turned away as undocumented. He went on and 
earned a college degree, with no help from Federal programs, graduating 
at the top of his class. He then went to Mexico and took a chance that 
he could get back here so he could enlist in the Army, and he made it. 
Tell me, what is fairness and justice for Oscar Vasquez? That is what 
the DREAM Act is all about.
  I introduced this bill in 2001. I have met so many young students 
such as these who are my inspiration to come to this floor regularly 
and remind those who follow the Senate this is an issue that will not 
go away--as these lives will not go away. We need these young people.
  I wish to call on other students all across America--who were lucky 
enough to be born in America, who never had to question their own 
citizenship or future--I am asking them to stand in solidarity with 
these young men and women, people who may be sitting next to them in a 
lecture hall or just across the aisle at a desk. They are like you, and 
they need you to stand for them. If we can have students across America 
mobilize on behalf of DREAM Act students, we can create a force for 
change--a force that can pass, even with 60 votes, this DREAM Act in 
the Senate.
  I need my colleagues to not forget the DREAM Act, not forget these 
young people, and not forget what America is all about.
  Just a few steps from here is my office, and right behind my desk is 
a certificate that I have had displayed as long as I have been in the 
Senate. It is my mother's naturalization certificate. She was an 
immigrant, and she came here at the age of 2. She would have been one 
of the DREAM kids of her generation. It was not until after she was a 
parent and had two children that she finally took the classes and was 
naturalized as a U.S. citizen. She was a young mom in East Saint Louis, 
IL, and I have her picture right there on the naturalization 
certificate to remind me not only who I am but to remind me of her and 
her journey.

[[Page S3162]]

  Her journey to America is the same journey these young people made: 
coming as an infant and striving to succeed in a place which did not 
always welcome immigrants. But, thank goodness, this Nation of 
immigrants, from time to time, will rally and celebrate our diversity, 
celebrate the length and breadth of the American family and all the 
cultures and all the ethnic backgrounds it comprises.
  I am so proud of this great Nation, and I am proud of who we are and 
what we are. This Nation of immigrants should remember that fine young 
people such as these DREAM Act students deserve a chance. Given a 
chance, they will continue to prove to America that this is, indeed, a 
great and noble experiment in our country, bringing together people 
from all over the world.

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