[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7034-S7035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Ms. Murkowski, Mrs. 
        Feinstein, Mr. Flake, and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 3542. A bill to provide provisional protected presence to 
qualified individuals who came to the United States as children; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 6 years ago, I joined with Senator Dick 
Lugar in a bipartisan request of President Obama to do something to 
protect the DREAMers--those young kids brought to America as babies and 
infants and toddlers and teenagers who were undocumented, living in 
America, and had no place other than America to call home. We wanted 
these DREAMers to have a chance, not to be deported--a chance to go to 
school, a chance to work, a chance to prove themselves and to become 
part of the future of America.
  President Obama created the DACA Program by Executive order, and 
despite the political controversy of that decision on the other side of 
the aisle, the fact is it was a lifeline for up to 800,000 who have now 
come forward. They paid their filing fee of several hundred dollars, 
they have gone through a criminal background check to make sure there 
is nothing in their background to disqualify them from staying in the 
United States, and they have been given a temporary approval to stay 
here without fear of deportation and to work. So they have gone on to 
colleges and medical schools and law schools. They have taken important 
jobs. They have volunteered to serve in our military. They are proving 
that they want to be part of America's future.
  Now, if that Executive order, DACA, is eliminated, what happens to 
them? That has been a concern and a fear, not just on this side of the 
aisle but on the other side as well.
  I am happy to report that Senator Lindsey Graham has stepped forward. 
We are working together on a measure we call the BRIDGE Act, which we 
are going to introduce today. This is an effort by Senator Graham and 
myself to have a bipartisan answer to the question about what happens 
to these 800,000 and others like them while we debate the future of 
immigration. I think what we are taking is a reasonable step forward. 
As Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House said the other day, there is no 
need to disrupt their lives. President-Elect Donald Trump said recently 
in Time Magazine:

       We're going to work out something that's going to make 
     people happy and proud.

  Speaking of the DREAMers, President-Elect Trump said:

       They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked 
     here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students. 
     Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land 
     because they don't know what's going to happen.

  So Senator Graham and I are proposing this legislation today, and we 
invite Members to join us in supporting it. It is simple. It would 
provide protection from deportation and legal authority to continue 
working and studying to the people who are eligible for DACA.
  The BRIDGE Act has a new term--not DACA--but ``provisional protected 
presence.'' If you have DACA now, you would receive provisional 
protected status until your DACA expires, and you can apply for an 
extension. If you don't have DACA protection now but you are eligible, 
you can also apply for this provisional protected presence.
  Applicants would be required to pay a reasonable fee, be subject to 
criminal background checks, and meet the same eligibility criteria that 
currently applied to DACA. This legal status would be good for 3 years. 
DACA is only good for 2 years but is renewable. The status we are 
creating would be good for 3 years after the BRIDGE Act becomes law.
  I believe this legislation will attract broad support from both sides 
of the aisle. But let me be clear. The BRIDGE Act that we are 
introducing today is no substitute for broader legislation to fix our 
broken immigration system. This bill should not be tied to other 
unrelated measures. Let's take care of these young people who are in 
doubt about tomorrow before we debate the larger and equally important 
question about immigration reform, which has so many facets.
  Senator Graham and I were two Members of the bipartisan Gang of 8, 
Republicans and Democrats who authored comprehensive immigration reform 
legislation that passed the Senate. We both believe that Congress must 
consider legislation to deal with all aspects of the immigration law. 
In particular, I strongly believe personally--personally, I believe--
that we need a path to citizenship not just for DREAMers but for their 
parents and other undocumented immigrants who are living in the shadows 
but, by every

[[Page S7035]]

measure, should be given a chance to prove themselves in America.
  We need to pass the BRIDGE Act quickly to ensure that DREAMers who 
came forward to register for DACA do not lose critical work permits.
  There are 28 medical students at the Loyola University Stritch School 
of Medicine in Chicago. They are DACA-eligible. They competed 
nationally. They weren't given any specific slots. They were accepted 
to medical school. If they lose their work permit, they have to drop 
out of medical soon, and they can't do their clinical work, which is 
important to medical education. So let's not lose them and others who 
can serve our country in the future.
  Over the years, I have come to the floor to tell stories about these 
DREAMers, and I would like to tell one today about Javier Cuan-
Martinez. He came at the age of 4 from Mexico with his parents. He was 
4 years old. He went to elementary school in Texas. He moved to 
Temecula, CA. He was an excellent student involved in many activities. 
He was a member of the National Honor Society, and he was named 
Riverside County's Student of the Month. He received an award from the 
College Board's National Hispanic Recognition Program, given to only 
5,000 of the 250,000 Hispanic students who took the test. He was a 
member of the Math Club and a drum major in the school's marching band. 
He volunteered in his town's soup kitchen for the homeless and received 
the President's Volunteer Service Award.
  He didn't even know he was undocumented until he was applying for 
college and he learned that he was ineligible for any Federal financial 
assistance to go to school.
  Thanks to his academic achievements, this young man was accepted at 
Harvard University. He is now a sophomore majoring in computer science, 
a member of the Harvard Computer Society and Harvard's marching band. 
Thanks to DACA, he is supporting himself by working as a web developer.
  He sent me a letter, and here is what he said:

       DACA doesn't give me an advantage; rather, it gives me the 
     opportunity to create my own future on the same grounds as 
     any other student. I would like to be judged upon my 
     qualities as a person rather than what papers I happen to 
     have in my hand. I hope to be a computer programmer and begin 
     earning my own living as a contributing member of America's 
     society.

  Consider this. Every year, the United States of America imports guest 
workers to do computer programming on H-1B visas. So does it make any 
sense to deport this young man who could fill one of those important 
jobs, who was educated and raised in the United States and wants to 
stay and be a part of our future?
  Javier and other DREAMers have so much to give America. But if DACA 
is eliminated, he will lose his legal status and be deported back to 
Mexico--a country he barely knows and left when he was 4 years old. 
Will America be stronger if we deport him? I don't think so.
  The answer is obvious. I hope President-Elect Trump will understand 
this and will continue the DACA Program or encourage the passage of the 
BRIDGE Program, as we move forward. If he decides to end DACA, the 
President-elect can then turn to Congress and ask us to do our part by 
passing the BRIDGE Act.
                                 ______