[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8027-S8028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DACA AND DAPA ANNIVERSARY

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it was 1 year ago this week that President 
Obama announced he would use his Executive authority to reform our 
broken immigration system. The President said we should prioritize the 
deportation of those who have been convicted of serious crimes or those 
who pose any threat to America's security. The Department of Homeland 
Security only has funding to deport a small fraction of the 
undocumented immigrants in the country.
  So the President said: Let's make a priority. Let's focus our limited 
resources on deporting those who could do us harm. It seemed like 
common sense to most people. At the same time, the President said we 
should not waste our resources deporting young immigrant students who 
grew up in this country and would, in fact, if they were deported, tear 
their families apart.
  The President's policies focused on deporting felons, not families--
criminals, not children. In 2012 President Obama established the 
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA. DACA provides 
temporary--let me underline the word ``temporary''--immigrant status to 
immigrant students who arrived in the United States as children. This 
program is based on the DREAM Act, a bill I introduced 14 years ago in 
the Senate. That bill was introduced to give undocumented students who 
grew up in America a chance to earn their path to citizenship. We call 
them DREAMers. It was known as the DREAM Act. They were brought to the 
United States as kids, some as infants. They grew up in our country 
pledging allegiance every day in the classroom to the only flag they 
have ever known--the U.S. stars and stripes. They are proud and 
patriotic Americans in every sense but one: They are undocumented. They 
only want a chance to work, to be part of America's future.

  We have already invested in these young people. We have put quite a 
bit of our resources into making them what they are today. It makes no 
sense to walk away from this investment, does it, if that child, grown 
up now, could be an asset to the future of America?
  So far, more than 700,000 of these young people have received the 
DACA protection, temporary status to stay in the United States. What 
have they done with this opportunity? They have decided to do more to 
help our country--to become engineers, teachers, small business owners.

[[Page S8028]]

  DACA, I am sorry to say, is not a popular program with many of my 
Republican colleagues. They have tried to shut it down. They want to 
deport these DREAMers--2\1/2\ million young people who were brought to 
the United States as infants and children, who have grown up in this 
country, have no serious criminal record, and who only want to be part 
of our future. Instead, the critics say, turn them away, deport them--
many times to countries they cannot even remember.
  A year ago this week, President Obama established a new program that 
built on DACA's success. It is called the Deferred Action for Parental 
Accountability, or DAPA. Under that program, undocumented immigrants 
who have lived in the United States for more than 5 years and have 
American children would be required to come forward, register with the 
government, pay a fee, submit themselves to a criminal and national 
security background check, and pay their fair share of taxes. This is 
potentially 11 million people. Are we safer as a nation if these 11 
million--or a large part of them--come forward, register with the 
government, pay their taxes, and submit themselves to a criminal 
background check? If they have a serious problem, if they have 
committed a crime, out they go. I am not going to defend them. But 
let's give these people a chance to get temporary status in this 
country by paying their taxes, paying a fee, submitting to a background 
check, and registering with our government. If the government 
determines these parents haven't committed any serious crimes and don't 
pose any threat to us, the President's order, on a temporary basis, 
says they can work and will not be deported--temporary.
  President Obama also expanded this to cover all DREAMers who came to 
the United States as children and have lived here for at least 5 years. 
Why did he take these actions? Because for years Congress has failed to 
fix our broken immigration system.
  I remember the day--it was June 27, 2013, 2\1/2\ years ago--the 
Senate passed comprehensive legislation to fix our broken immigration 
system. The vote was 68 to 32. A substantial number of Republican 
Senators joined with Democrats in voting for this comprehensive reform. 
We had spent, eight of us--the group of 8, as we were called--months 
negotiating back and forth and back and forth on the toughest issues 
involving immigration. We reached a bipartisan agreement, brought the 
bill to the floor, and it passed. We were in the majority at that time 
on the Democratic side, but we reached across the aisle to make sure 
enough Republicans could support us so that we could have a bipartisan 
solution to our immigration challenge.
  Unfortunately, the Republican majority in the House of 
Representatives at that time would not even consider--wouldn't even 
consider--the immigration reform bill we passed. In the face of that, 
the President had no choice. He could allow our broken immigration 
system to continue or step forward and try to make America safer and 
more just.
  The Center for American Progress, incidentally, says the economic 
benefit of the President's Executive orders would have been 
significant. Both DACA for children and DAPA for their parents would 
increase my State's gross domestic product by almost $15 billion over 
10 years and increase the earnings of all Illinois residents by almost 
$8 billion.
  Unfortunately, both DAPA and the expansion of the earlier DACA have 
been blocked by lawsuits that have been filed by Republicans who oppose 
the measure. These Republicans, who have the majority in the House and 
Senate, refuse to even consider any legislation to fix our broken 
immigration system.
  Well, last week, in a decision that was no surprise, a Republican-
appointed judge--actually, a bank of judges on the Fifth Circuit Court 
of Appeals--sided with the Republicans who had filed a lawsuit and 
upheld an injunction that blocks DAPA and the expanded DACA Program. 
The Obama administration announced they will appeal to the Supreme 
Court. The Supreme Court has been clear in the past that Presidents 
have the authority to set Federal immigration policy. I believe the 
President's actions will ultimately be upheld.
  Over the years, I have come to the floor more than 60 times to tell 
stories about DREAMers. I used to give speeches about the general 
issue, and people didn't pay much attention. But then I started telling 
the stories of the actual people who would be affected by the DREAM Act 
and by DACA. Today, I want to tell you another one.
  This is Fernando Meza Gutierrez. Fernando's family came to the United 
States from Mexico when he was 9 years old. He grew up in Los Angeles, 
CA, and he was an outstanding student. In high school, he was an 
advanced placement scholar, and he received an international 
baccalaureate diploma and the Achievement Award in Foreign Language for 
French. He was a student athletic trainer, president of the French 
club, and tutored his fellow students in French, Spanish, and in math.
  Fernando was also active in his community. He volunteered at nursing 
homes, participated in canned food drives, beach cleanup, and 
Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless.
  Fernando continued his studies at Santa Clara University. Remember, 
as an undocumented student, he didn't qualify for a penny in Federal 
assistance--no loans, no Pell grants. But at Santa Clara University, 
Fernando graduated cum laude with a double major in biology and French. 
During his time at Santa Clara, Fernando won the award for the best 
presentation in molecular biology at the West Coast Biological Sciences 
Undergraduate Research Conference. He worked at a research laboratory, 
where he studied how cells choose what kind of tissue they will become 
during their development. Unlike the other students, Fernando could not 
be paid for his work because he was an undocumented immigrant.
  Fernando also continued to be active in his community. He was a 
certified emergency medical technician, responding to on-campus medical 
emergencies. He participated in food drives, tutored high school 
students, worked with HIV patients in San Francisco, and volunteered 
for soup kitchens.
  Fernando is currently a third-year doctoral student at the University 
of California in San Francisco, studying biochemistry and molecular 
biology. He is working in a lab in the Hellen Diller Comprehensive 
Cancer Center. He focuses his research on how cancer cells get rid of 
proteins that are defective and potentially harmful or proteins that 
are no longer needed. His work could provide valuable insights into 
many diseases and disorders, including cancer and autism. Fernando also 
mentors high school students and undergraduate students pursuing 
careers in biomedical science.
  Fernando sent me a letter, and this is what he said:

       I'm thankful to this country for giving me the opportunity 
     to grow up in a safe environment, for the education I 
     receive, for the amazing people that have been a part of my 
     life, and for the culture in which I grew up. All these 
     factors have shaped my world view, my aspirations. . . . DACA 
     will allow me to contribute to America's biomedical research 
     work and potentially make discoveries that could improve the 
     lives of Americans and people around the world. This country 
     has given me an opportunity to pursue my passion for 
     biomedical research. In the future, I want to use my 
     expertise to contribute to this country and to make sure that 
     the United States remains the world's leader in biomedical 
     discoveries.

  Fernando and many DREAMers like him have a lot to contribute to 
America. I don't understand those who want to deport this young man, 
who say: We don't need you, we don't need your talents, we don't need 
your hard work, and we don't need your research. Of course we do. 
America will be a better country if Fernando becomes a part of its 
future. That is what the DREAM Act does. That is what DACA does. That 
is what we are trying to achieve.
  Instead of trying to deport young men and women like Fernando, I hope 
the other party will support meaningful immigration reform that is fair 
and comprehensive.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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