[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4984-S4987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DACA
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about the need to
protect undocumented young people, commonly referred to as Dreamers,
from deportation.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or what is called
DACA, was announced by President Obama in 2012 to solve an urgent need.
Hundreds of thousands of young people brought to this country as
children were at risk of being deported. They didn't take the action to
come; their parents took the action to come and bring them. President
Obama's Executive order temporarily protected these undocumented young
people from deportation. DACA also provides the opportunity to obtain
work permits and has made it possible for many young DACA beneficiaries
to enroll in college.
If Congress doesn't act now and pass a law, President Trump's
decision to terminate this program will have devastating consequences
for nearly 800,000 families across the United States, particularly
those in California. This decision to end DACA without first ensuring
that young people have legal protection is why we are demanding a vote
on the Dream Act as soon as possible. DACA recipients deserve certainty
now, not 6 months from now. These young people trusted our government,
and it is time we stopped playing with their lives.
The Dream Act, introduced by Senators Graham and Durbin, has been
considered many times already by this Congress. It was most recently
included in the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the
Senate in 2013 with 68 votes. I remember it well. I remember weeks in
committee. I remember dozens of amendments. I remember the time on the
floor, the hope that we would be able to pass comprehensive immigration
reform. It had an agricultural workers program in it. It had this
program for undocumented children. It had H2A. It had a whole panoply
of reforms in it, and it went down. It got 68 votes here, although it
didn't survive in the House.
I believe there is broad bipartisan support for the Dream Act. I just
learned, for example, that polls are saying that 70 percent of the
people in this country are in favor of it. And I would be confident
that it would pass if given an up-or-down vote. So I call on leadership
to ensure there is a clean vote on the Dream Act this month.
As I mentioned, 800,000 young people have been admitted to the DACA
Program, allowing them to come out of the shadows. They were educated
here. They work here. They pay taxes. They are integrated into American
society. These young people are fiercely patriotic. In every way that
truly matters, they are Americans.
Listen to this: 95 percent of DACA recipients are working or in
school. That is 95 percent of 800,000. The typical DACA recipient came
to this country at 6 years old. They have known no home other than this
one. Many of them only speak English.
Seventy-two percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies--companies
such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, J.P. Morgan--employ DACA recipients.
DACA recipients are contributing significantly to our economy. It is
estimated that ending the program would mean a $460.3 billion hit to
the GDP over the next decade.
But protecting DACA recipients isn't a matter of politics or
economics; it is really about what is right as Americans and human
beings. This is particularly important for me, representing California,
because 1 in 4 Dreamers--223,000--live, work, and study in California,
and I can testify that they are an essential part of the fabric of our
communities. So it is important for Senators and the American public to
know the very real human side to this issue.
I want to share the story of a remarkable young woman whom I met and
whose family I met. Her name is Vianney Sanchez. She was brought to
this country when she was just 1. Today she lives in East Oakland. I
met her and her family last month, and I last spoke to her on Monday
night. Vianney is a 23-year-old graduate student from UC Santa Cruz
with a degree in psychology. She is pursuing a career in public service
so she can give back to this country.
Vianney's mother, Maria, whom I also met, worked as an oncology nurse
at Highland Hospital, and her father, Eusebio, worked as a truckdriver.
They had no criminal record. They owned their own home, which I
visited, a small home in East Oakland. They paid their taxes. And they
were in this country for 23 years. I saw them the week before the
mother and father were deported last month, sobbing in their living
room. My office has worked on their case for years, and their
deportation was truly heartbreaking. I will never forget having to call
Maria and tell her that I had spoken to the Acting
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Secretary of Homeland Security, begging her not to deport this family,
and that she would be deported and separated from her children the next
day. It was one of the most painful calls I have ever had to make.
These heartbreaking photos of the Sanchez family were taken by the
San Francisco Chronicle and Bay Area News Group before Maria and
Eusebio were forced to leave. This is Maria--20 years a nurse at
Highland Hospital. This is Vianney, and this is the second oldest
child. The oldest child is DACA, and it has now fallen to her to
support her two sisters, maintain the house, work, and hopefully start
her career. Her mother, her father, and her American citizen youngest
brother are in Mexico. I think these heartbreaking photos tell a story.
Vianney now is facing the uncertainty that she, too, could lose
protection and be deported. Then what would happen to her sisters?
Every day we fail to act means one more day that Vianney, Melin, and
Elizabeth are forced to live with this enormous cloud hanging over
their heads. And, you know, Senator, the fear is palpable. You talk to
these young people on the telephone, and you can sense what is
happening. First of all, they know the government knows everything
about them. The government knows where they live, what they do. They
have to report regularly. This is kind of a conditional program, and so
they are up front and out front. And you would think this would give
them a sense of security, but it actually gives them a sense of
insecurity because they don't know what the future will bring.
I would like to share the story of another talented and ambitious
Californian who has taken full advantage of the opportunity she has
been given. This is Denisse Rojas. She 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
their children. This is a very recent photo of her; you can see she is
beautiful.
Denisse's family is similar to other families in California. After
arriving in Fremont, 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.
After years of trying to gain legal status, her parents were forced to
move to Canada. That left Denisse.
Denisse excelled in high school, graduating with a 4.3 GPA. She
attended UC Berkeley, which is one of the top public universities in
the Nation, to study biology and sociology. She dreamt of going to
medical school, driven in part by a family member's earlier death from
cancer. The cancer 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.
This is Denisse today. She is in New York at Mount Sinai Medical
School, one of the country's top programs. She is on track to earn her
degree in 2019. You can see her in the middle of this photo in her
medical scrubs and how proud she is.
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. Through Pre-Health Dreamers,
Denisse has helped many other students as they work toward their goals.
After graduation, she intends to specialize in emergency medicine and
work in low-income communities to provide healthcare to families like
her own who too often go without needed treatment.
Parts of California, particularly our rural counties, are very short
on doctors. This is a big problem. In the healthcare reform, they are
lucky if they have the choice of one insurance. So we desperately need
people like Denisse who want to work in communities most in need of
skilled health professionals.
Without DACA or passage of the Dream Act, Denisse won't be able to
come home. She won't be able to stay. All of the education that has
gotten her here--a top-notch university and a top-notch hospital, I
assume as an intern or a resident at this time--she wouldn't have the
proper work authorization or accompanying documents, and our country
would be denied a highly qualified, motivated doctor.
In closing, I really believe we have a moral obligation to do all we
can to shield these young people from deportation. Remember, they did
not break the law. They were brought here as children, many as babies.
Some don't know the language of the land from whence they came. They
all speak English very well. They want the American dream. They are
motivated, and they are patriotic. I was listening to a young person
the other day, and all she wanted to do was be in the military. She is
ROTC and wants to be in the military. You know, these are the people
who make this country great, and we can't forsake them.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, it would have taken moral courage--
something he doesn't have--for President Trump to stand in front of the
American people to say why he was going back on his word to ``deal with
DACA with heart'' and help these ``absolutely incredible kids'' in a
way that is going to ``make people happy and proud.''
Instead, he sent out his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, long a foe
of immigration reform, to break the bad news to 800,000 young people
and their families that he was rescinding DACA. This was bloodless,
heartless, and completely unjustifiable. In his remarks, the Attorney
General composed an elaborate fiction about DACA, a program that has
transformed the lives of 800,000 young people, and the Attorney General
actually thought the American people would fall for his made-up
remarks. He not only claimed that DACA was unconstitutional but also
falsely claimed that Dreamers were taking hundreds of thousands of jobs
away from Americans and that they deserved to be punished.
The fact is, a strong majority of the American people are siding with
the DACA participants. The American people aren't threatened by these
inspiring young people. They are not criminals. They aren't causing
trouble. They are students, doctors, nurses, teachers, and
entrepreneurs making real and meaningful contributions to our society.
They are simply asking for the opportunity to pursue their dreams--
hence, they are called Dreamers--in the only country they know, the
United States of America. It is why so many people across the country
are speaking out forcefully against the President's decision to end
DACA.
While I was back home in Hawaii last month, I met with activists,
community organizations, and State leaders to rally support for DACA
and to call for establishing permanent protections for these Dreamers
across the country. Hawaii is home to 600 DACA recipients and thousands
more Dreamers who could have qualified for the program but were
reluctant to expose themselves to the government. I would like to share
some of their compelling stories.
Gabriella came to the United States with her family in 2001, fleeing
violence in Brazil. They came here out of love and hope for a better
future. Every day Gabriella and her family worried about being sent
back to the violent situation they escaped. Gabriella graduated from
high school with a 3.8 GPA and had big plans to pursue higher
education, but at that time she couldn't enroll in college because she
was undocumented.
DACA changed her life. She said:
I had been living here undocumented for 10 years and had
seen a lot of opportunities pass me by. I knew I couldn't
continue to live this way.
[DACA] changed my life for the better. Since getting DACA
in 2012, I have been able to get a driver's license, to have
a career, to go to school, and leave my home every day
knowing that I could come home to my family at the end of the
day.
Another story. Mahe came to Hawaii from Tonga when he was a child.
When he turned 21, he learned he might be deported. Before receiving
DACA, the only job Mahe could find was building rock walls with his
uncle in Waialua. He didn't have a car to get to work. He woke up at 4
a.m. every day to catch a bus to Pearl City, where he switched buses
for the ride to Waialua.
After working in the hot Sun all day, Mahe would have to take a 2-
hour bus
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ride home to get to bed at 10 p.m. before starting his routine over
again the next morning.
Since I got DACA, life has changed a lot. I applied for my
first job and got it. I worked really hard and made
supervisor. They gave me a company car and a company phone.
It was really, really nice just to know that with hard work
and effort you can get places.
Eliminating DACA would erase the meaningful economic and social
contributions Dreamers like Gabriella and Mahe have made to Hawaii and
our country. Multiply their stories thousands of times, and you get a
sense of how many lives are being shattered by a President who wouldn't
help the young people he claims to ``love,'' even as he was ordering
their probable deportation.
According to a report from the Cato Institute, rescinding DACA would
cost the State of Hawaii $577.5 million in the coming decade from
unrealized economic growth and lost taxes. That is from 600 DACA
participants. There are 800,000 of them throughout the country. Just
the economic loss alone would be tremendous.
Of course, the contributions Dreamers make to our country cannot and
should not be reduced only to a dollar figure. Standing up for them and
their American dream is a moral imperative. It is why leaders from
across Hawaii are speaking about DACA and protecting Dreamers.
In an email to students, faculty, and staff yesterday, the president
of the University of Hawaii, David Lassner, reaffirmed the university's
``commitment to serve all members of our community, regardless of
citizenship status,'' stating:
Well over four years ago the UH Board of Regents adopted a
policy to extend eligibility for resident tuition rates to
undocumented students, including but not limited to those who
have filed for DACA.
I remain on record, with hundreds of my fellow college and
university presidents, in public support of DACA. Over the
next months we will strengthen our urging of Congress to
extend the DACA program and protect the dreamers of our State
and our nation.
He goes on:
Our undocumented students are an integral part of our
community and will continue to be extended all the rights,
privileges, and services available to our students, from
application through graduation.
As our state's only higher public education system we have
a deep responsibility to provide high-quality affordable
education to advance all our people, our communities and our
islands. That mission requires that we support and celebrate
diversity, respect and caring.
We must overcome hate and intolerance even as we support
free speech and free expression. It is clear that UH, like
universities around the country, is entering uncharted
territory.
Our clear and firm adherence to our values in challenging
times is more essential than ever.
So stated the president of the University of Hawaii.
In another very recent development, Hawaii's attorney general, Doug
Chin, joined 15 attorneys general from across the country filing suit
against the Trump administration to prevent it from eliminating the
DACA Program. They filed the lawsuit on equal protection grounds. I
strongly support efforts in the courts to prevent the President from
rescinding DACA and putting 800,000 young lives at risk for
deportation.
Since the President has kicked the ball to Congress to save DACA,
something he could and should have done himself, Congress must step up
and do just that. Congress must step up because we cannot count on the
President to do the right thing by exerting consistent, comprehensive,
or moral leadership. Although it was completely within the President's
power to keep DACA in place, Congress can provide the certainty these
Dreamers deserve by passing the Dream Act, a bill that enjoys
bipartisan support.
I also want to send a clear message to the President and his hardline
supporters in Congress. I will join with my colleagues to resist any
effort to hold Dreamers hostage to pay for the President's vanity wall,
in exchange for sharp reductions in legal immigration or for any other
dog whistles to his base. I will do everything I can to fight against
this administration's continued efforts to marginalize minority
communities or to pit immigrant communities against one another. As an
immigrant and minority myself, I certainly know what these communities
are experiencing. This is precisely what the President continues to do
in an effort to play to White supremacists in his base. Sadly, this is
not surprising. It is up to each of us to fight back, and we will.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, first, I want to thank my colleague from
Hawaii for her outstanding words. She comes from a State like mine that
thrives on diversity, welcoming people from all over the globe and
making us stronger, and she has been a symbol of that herself as well
as all the millions of wonderful people she represents in Hawaii.
I rise this afternoon alongside my colleague from Hawaii, my
colleague from Washington State, and others to make a case for the
swift passage of the Dream Act. There are 800,000 Dreamers living in
our country today, hard-working folks who came to this country through
no fault of their own. To many, America is the only country they have
ever known. More than that, they contribute so much to our country.
They work in our companies, go to our schools, even serve in our
military. All they want is to live and work and contribute to our great
country. Why wouldn't we want them to?
The President's decision yesterday to end DACA threw their futures in
doubt, threatening to rip apart families and telling people who have
worked so hard to become Americans that they have to leave the country.
The President's DACA decision is also bad economics. It would deprive
thousands of employers that rely on these hard workers.
The Libertarian-leaning Cato Institute estimates that ending DACA
would cost employers over $2 billion in 2 years alone. The Center for
American Progress found it would drain $433 billion from our GDP over
10 years. That is why more than 500 business leaders--some of the
leading business people in our country--have signed on to a letter in
defense of DACA. That is why Microsoft recently said that protecting
the Dreamers was their No. 1 legislative goal, greater than a cut to
the corporate tax rate. That is how much Dreamers mean to them
personally and to their bottom lines.
The economic consequence of ending DACA would be far-reaching and
likely devastating. There would also be a devastating moral cost if we
didn't pass the Dream Act to protect these kids.
I am reminded of a young woman, Kirssy Martinez, who was brought to
this country from the Dominican Republic as a very young child and grew
up in my city, in the borough of the Bronx. After graduating high
school in New York City, Kirssy was stuck in the shadows. She worked
small jobs as a waitress and as a babysitter. Though she was a good
student coming out of high school and even had a few scholarship
offers, she couldn't attend college because she didn't have a green
card.
The DACA Program granted her temporary legal status. She worked hard
to scrape together enough for loans and enrolled in Bronx Community
College. A few years ago, I spoke at her graduation, where she was the
covaledictorian of her class. I watched her. What a wonderful young
lady. She had a perfect GPA, 4.0.
Kirssy represents what we think of as the best of our country. She is
part of what makes America great. Like generations before her, she
wants to study hard, work hard, and give back to her community. What
kind of country would we be--what kind of country have we become if we
say that Kirssy and 800,000 hard-working folks just like her are not
welcome.
Congress has a responsibility to act. I know the Presiding Officer
sees it that way as well, and I very much appreciate it. We should do,
as soon as we can, whatever we can.
I repeat what I said to the majority leader and the Speaker of the
House this morning at the White House: Put a clean Dream Act on the
floor in both Houses. It will receive bipartisan support. I believe it
would pass by significant margins in each House. We could remove the
fear of deportation and give peace of mind to 800,000 Dreamers if only
our leadership would put the bill on the floor. It is that simple. If
we don't see a clean Dream Act in September, we, as the minority, are
prepared to attach it to legislative vehicles in the fall until it
passes.
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These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts. They ought to become
Americans in the law books as well, and we Democrats will not rest
until that happens.
Thank you, and I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, some 800,000 people in this country woke
up this morning with great uncertainty about their future because of
President Trump's reckless, hateful agenda. Young men and women in this
country are now unsure if they will be able to finish their college
degree in the United States. They are unsure if they can keep their job
at the hospital or as a firefighter or serve in our military to fight
for our freedom. They are unsure if they can keep their homes or remain
with loved ones, and they are scared that this country might break its
promise and use against them the very information that they submitted
to enroll in DACA in order to find them and deport them. That is
appalling, and it marks a very sad time for this United States of
America.
President Trump has caused a lot of divisive and disheartening
moments since the start of the year, but rescinding DACA is an
unusually cruel and heartless move even for this administration, and it
flies in the face of so much of what and who made this country what it
is. So I am here today, with my colleagues, to urge all of us in the
Senate to use this moment of uncertainty and division to do what is
right--to come together to defend DACA.
Use your voices for the Dreamers in your States and the many others
who are calling and writing and marching in our streets, urging all of
us to act for our neighbors and our coworkers, our students, our
doctors, our engineers, our friends, and our first responders, who are
stepping up at this very moment to protect people from the hurricanes
that are wreaking havoc in Texas and Florida to the wildfires that are
blazing in the West.
Let's stand behind our colleagues, Senator Durbin and Senator Graham,
who have already paved a bipartisan path forward on this issue and who,
just hours after the President's announcement, reiterated that they are
ready to get this done. I am too.
There are more than 17,000 young men and women in my home State of
Washington who are deeply connected to their communities. They were
brought to this country as children. Some of them were so young when
they arrived that they did not even know they were not born here until
years or, maybe, even a decade later when they went to apply for
college or to get a job.
Just yesterday, I heard about a young man in my home State who is
very distraught. He was brought to the United States as a toddler. He
did not know that he was not a citizen until he turned 16 and went to
get his driver's license. As a result, he signed up for DACA. He got
his license and he got a job, and he is now in his second year in a
science program at a community college, getting straight A's and hoping
to transfer to the University of Washington. Now he is frightened that
he is going to lose all of that and be forced to go to a country that
he has never known. He says that he does not know anyone in Mexico nor
has he been there to visit.
That is just one story.
I sat down with a number of Dreamers in my State. They are ambitious,
they work hard, they play by the rules, and they do the right thing.
They know one home--America. To penalize them for forces beyond their
control is simply not what this country is about.
While President Trump may see ending DACA as a political move to
pander to his extreme, hard-line base, I know that the majority of
people across this country will stand up and fight back. They will not
let President Trump strip away protections or use Dreamers as a
bargaining chip for his hateful crackdown on immigrants in our
communities or on wasteful border wall spending.
As a voice in Congress for my State, I stand ready to work with my
colleagues on either side of the aisle to find a solution so as to
honor the 800,000 Dreamers who call America home and to honor the very
foundation of our immigrant Nation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I understand that Senator Van Hollen was
going to speak, but since he is not here, I ask unanimous consent to
make what remarks I need to in morning business and will yield to him
when I am through.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, it is interesting to hear the DACA talk. I
think one should take a step back and look and ask: Is it really
unreasonable to merely say that so long as we will obey the law, we are
going to be all right? I think this President did the right thing when
he said: All right, Congress. You take a few months and see if you can
come up with some answers. That is a good answer. If that is the case,
then that is, maybe, what we should do.
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