[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 20, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S251-S252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

  Mr. DURBIN. The last point I would like to make relates to a motion 
that was made this morning by the majority leader. It was related to 
the appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Why 
are we bringing up this appropriations bill at this moment? Because 
when we agreed last December to fund our government, the Republicans in 
the House insisted we carve out the Department of Homeland Security and 
not give it its regular budget, instead give it emergency spending, a 
continuing resolution.
  This is not the way to run any department of government, certainly 
not the Department of Homeland Security. Why is it important to fund 
this department? One need only look to what has happened in the last 
few days in Paris to understand that the threat of terrorism to the 
world is still very real. One of our first lines of defense when it 
comes to terrorism is our Department of Homeland Security. There is no 
excuse for us to be dealing with this continuing resolution to fund 
this department. They should have the resources they need to keep 
America safe, but instead what has happened is this: The House of 
Representatives last week said they will only agree to fund this 
department properly if they can provide certain riders and changes in 
the law as part of it.

  I would tell you that the change that has been proposed by the House 
of Representatives is unacceptable. The President has said he is going 
to veto it if it is sent to his desk, and I totally support his 
position.
  Here is what they have come up with in the House of Representatives. 
If you are familiar with the DREAM Act, which I introduced in Congress 
14 years ago, it says: If a young person is brought to the United 
States at an early age, parents making the decision to come to this 
country, and that young person grows up in the United States, finishes 
high school, no serious criminal problems, willing to go forward to 
higher education or to the military, we will give them a chance of 
becoming legal in America. That is the DREAM Act. It has been 
considered and passed on the floor of the Senate, considered and passed 
on the floor of the House but never in the same session, and so it is 
not the law of the land.
  President Obama, a little over 2 years ago, came out with an 
Executive order program known as DACA. DACA said to these young people 
who would qualify under this law: If you will come forward and register 
with our government, if you will pay the filing fee, if you will allow 
us to do the background check, we will allow you to stay, go to school, 
and work in America and not be deported. Six hundred thousand young 
people have come forward. We estimate there are some 2 million 
eligible, and 600,000 have come forward. Thirty thousand are from my 
State of Illinois. Who are these young people?
  Let me introduce you to one of them, Oscar Vazquez. Oscar Vazquez 
grew up in Phoenix, AZ. His mother and father brought him to that city 
from Mexico, and he was undocumented. He attended Carl Hayden High 
School in Phoenix. He was a member of the Junior ROTC. His goal was to 
serve in the U.S. Army.
  When he went to the recruiter to sign up, the recruiter said: I need 
your birth certificate.
  Oscar said: Come on. We are fighting a war. Can't you look the other 
way and just let me join?
  He said: No, young man. You don't have the proper documents. You 
can't enlist in the U.S. Army.
  He was despondent because that was his goal. He went home and got 
engaged in another project which is the subject of a new movie called 
``Spare Parts,'' which George Lopez produced, directed, and starred in, 
which I saw last week. I will not give away the whole story, but I can 
tell you this: Oscar Vazquez and three other students at Carl Hayden 
High School entered into an underwater robotics competition. They 
competed with colleges such as MIT and they won. Their high school team 
won the underwater robotics competition.
  The talented young man, Oscar, said: I am going to Arizona State 
University. Without any government assistance, he graduated with a 
degree in mechanical engineering. After he got his degree and a wife 
and a baby, he

[[Page S252]]

said: Now I have to get right with America. I have to resolve this 
issue of being undocumented.
  That means Oscar decided to move back to Mexico. He was living in 
Mexico--the law required him to stay there for 10 years. That is how 
the law is written. He petitioned the United States for a chance to 
come back in. Eventually he was given a waiver. Oscar Vazquez came 
back, became a citizen of the United States of America, and the first 
thing he did was enlist in the U.S. Army. He went into combat in 
Afghanistan, and he came home after having served our Nation honorably 
and now is working for a major railroad in the State of Montana, with 
his wife and children.
  That is the story of one DREAMer, one DREAMer who was given a chance 
and has made a difference in America. He not only served in our 
military, but he had a degree in mechanical engineering. He is going to 
be a job creator, a job builder himself.
  So what do the House Republicans want to do to people such as Oscar 
Vazquez? Deport them. That is exactly what they called for. They are 
dream killers. That isn't right. We ought to give Oscar, young men and 
women just like him a chance to succeed and a chance to make America 
better.
  I have stood on this floor over 50 times with color photographs such 
as this one by my side and told the stories of DREAMers. This last 
weekend I was in Chicago and six of them came forward and told their 
stories. Each and every one of them had a compelling reason for us to 
defeat this mean-spirited amendment that came out of the House of 
Representatives.

  The President will veto it if it gets to his desk, but I hope we will 
do better in the Senate. I hope there are enough Senators on both sides 
of the aisle, 60-plus, who will stand up for the DREAMers of America. 
This is a test. It is a test as to whether we believe in fairness and 
justice and the value that immigrants such as Oscar Vazquez bring to 
the future of America.
  The House of Representatives just doesn't see it. They are blinded by 
their hatred for these immigrants, and they continue to pass these 
mean-spirited amendments. We can do better. We must do better as a 
nation. Let us stand up for the DREAMers, and let us all be dedicated 
to passing comprehensive immigration reform. Our immigration laws are 
broken. Our system is broken. It is time for us to accept our 
responsibility and repair it.
  We passed a bill a year and a half ago on the floor of the Senate 
with 68 votes--14 Republicans--Republicans and Democrats voted for it 
and sent it over to the House of Representatives and it languished for 
a year and a half. They refused to even call it or consider it. Our 
immigration system is still broken. Withholding money from the 
Department of Homeland Security, threatening with these riders that are 
dream killers for so many young people in America, that is 
unacceptable.
  I will stand on this floor as long as it takes to defend this DREAM 
Act and people such as Oscar Vazquez, who contribute to America and 
make it a better nation. I hope we will have bipartisan support for 
defeating the House of Representatives' riders that have been branded 
by the President as unacceptable and he will veto.
  I yield floor.

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