[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7017-S7018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish today to speak about the need 
to protect undocumented young people, commonly referred to as DREAMers, 
from deportation by preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals Program, or DACA.
  President-Elect Trump has threatened to eliminate the program, which 
would have serious consequences for families and communities across the 
United States, particularly those in California.
  That is why I join my colleagues in the Senate to urge that 
President-Elect Trump allow young people to continue to study, work, 
and live in our country.
  The DACA program was announced by President Obama in 2012. It 
temporarily halts the threat of deportation for undocumented young 
people who were brought to the United States as children before their 
16th birthday.
  DACA also provides the opportunity to obtain work permits and the 
documents often required to enroll in college.
  Around 750,000 young people have been admitted to the program, 
allowing them to come out of the shadows and make incredible 
contributions to their communities.
  Nearly half of DREAMers--370,000--live, work and are educated in 
California. They are an essential part of the fabric of our communities 
and it is so important for people and the President-Elect to know the 
very real, human side to this issue.
  I would like to begin with the story of one talented and ambitious 
Californian who has taken full advantage of the opportunity she had 
been given by the DACA program.
  Denisse Rojas arrived in the United States when she was just 10 
months old, brought here from Mexico. Like many of our immigrant 
ancestors, her parents wanted to make a better life for her and her 
siblings.
  Denisse's family is similar to many undocumented families in 
California. After arriving in Fremont, CA, her father worked full-time 
in a restaurant while pursuing his high school diploma at night.
  Her mother attended community college part-time for 7 years to earn 
her nursing degree. Denisse excelled in high school, graduating with a 
4.3 GPA. She attended U.C. Berkeley, one of the top public universities 
in the Nation, to study biology and sociology.
  Denisse dreamed of going to medical school, driven in part by a 
family member's early death from cancer. The disease was diagnosed at a 
late stage because the family's immigration status made it impossible 
to afford health insurance.
  Denisse worked as a waitress and commuted an hour each way to classes 
because she couldn't afford to live on campus. After graduation, she 
volunteered at San Francisco General Hospital.
  Today, Denisse is attending medical school in New York at one of the 
country's top programs, and she is on track to earn her degree in 2019. 
To help other students navigate the admissions process and pursue 
careers in health and medicine, Denisse cofounded a national nonprofit 
organization called Pre-Health Dreamers.
  Pre-Health Dreamers has connected an incredible network of students, 
and I would like to introduce you to just a couple of them: Oscar 
Hernandez is a medical student at U.C. Irvine. He grew up in San 
Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood and received his bachelor's degree in 
physiology and neuroscience from U.C. San Diego. Oscar is being 
specially trained to address the unique challenges in providing health 
care to California's Latino communities--a growing need in our State.
  Seung Lee is a medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine 
at UCLA. His family immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 
1998. Seung is also pursuing a career in medicine because he wants to 
help reduce inequality by increasing access to health care in his 
community.
  Through Pre-Health Dreamers, Denisse has helped bring Oscar, Seung, 
and many other students together as they work toward their goals.
  After graduation, Denisse intends to specialize in emergency medicine 
and work in low-income communities to provide health care to families 
like her own that too often go without needed treatment. Parts of 
California, particularly our rural communities, are very short on 
doctors. We desperately need people like Denisse who want to work in 
communities most in need of skilled health care professionals.
  Without the DACA program, Denisse wouldn't be able to obtain the 
license required to practice medicine. She would not have the proper 
work authorization or accompanying documents. And our country would be 
denied a highly qualified, motivated doctor.
  DREAMers are also working in classrooms across the country. Jaime 
Ballesteros came to the United States from the Philippines when he was 
11 years old.
  He excelled in school but knew that being undocumented would make it 
much harder to go to college.
  Jaime's English teacher encouraged him to pursue private 
scholarships, and he enrolled in Drew University, a top school for 
teachers.
  Jamie was admitted into the DACA program during his junior year of 
college. He obtained a work permit and said filing his taxes for the 
first time was ``one of the happiest days of my life.''
  Jamie wanted to give back to students facing the same challenges he 
did, and he joined Teach for America. Today he serves as a 7th grade 
science teacher at KIPP Academy of Innovation, a STEM charter middle 
school in east Los Angeles.
  Now, I would like to explain the application process these young 
people go through. They need to pay a nearly $500 application fee and 
provide a wide range of documents to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 
Services showing their identity; proof they came to the United States 
before their 16th birthday; proof that they were present in United 
States on June 15, 2012; proof that they have continuously lived in 
United States since June 15, 2007; and confirmation that they are or 
have been students or honorably discharged military veterans. Potential 
DACA recipients must also undergo a criminal background check, during 
which fingerprints and photographs may be collected. Those with felony 
convictions or three or more misdemeanors are ineligible for the 
program. Once approved, DREAMers must reapply every 2 years. The 
renewal process allows the Department of Homeland Security to ensure 
young people still meet the program's requirements.
  Despite the program's success, exemplified by young people like 
Denisse, Oscar, Seung, Jamie, and many others, President-Elect Trump 
has threatened to immediately rescind the program. There is a very real 
fear that DREAMers and their families could be targeted

[[Page S7018]]

for deportation under his administration. The fear is compounded 
because DREAMers trusted the government with their home and work 
addresses, school information, family details, and other personally 
identifiable information.
  My office has received hundreds of calls and emails from Californians 
who have been admitted to the program, their families and friends, as 
well as others who support DACA because they have seen the benefit to 
their communities. I would like to share just some of the feedback I 
have received. A professor from the University of San Francisco shared 
that a student sobbed in her arms in the first class after Election 
Day. And a wife from Forest Lake feared that her husband's status would 
be revoked and their family could be separated.
  She wrote, ``Under a Trump presidency, I, a U.S. citizen, may need to 
leave my home and start a new life in Mexico. Family is family, and 
where my husband goes, I go.''
  This is unacceptable and not the America I know. We can't allow whole 
communities in this country to live in fear.
  Upon his election, President-Elect Trump said he wants to be the 
President for all Americans. I would urge him to meet some of these 
young people. He would see that DREAMers are fiercely patriotic.
  He would see that, in every way that matters, DREAMers are Americans. 
They were educated here, they work here, they pay taxes, and they 
contribute to communities across America.
  And he would see that they want to be accepted and integrated into 
American society.
  Unequivocally stating that he will not overturn DACA and will not 
target DREAMers for deportation would send a strong message that 
President-Elect Trump is serious about turning the page from the toxic 
campaign rhetoric and being a President for all Americans.
  In the event that President-Elect Trump doesn't change course, 
Senators Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham have committed to introducing 
legislation to extend deferred action status for those who currently 
have it.
  I will join this effort. I want to be crystal clear: this Senator 
will not sit by and do nothing if these young people are targeted for 
deportation.
  We have a moral obligation to do all we can to shield the DREAMers 
from deportation and keep their families together. This is not a matter 
of politics. This is about what is right as Americans and human beings.
  Denisse, Oscar, and Seung deserve the opportunity to earn their 
medical degrees. Jamie deserves the opportunity to continue teaching. 
They and other DREAMers deserve the opportunity to give back to their 
country--the United States of America--and I pledge that I will work to 
give them that opportunity.

                          ____________________