[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 159 (Wednesday, October 4, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6315-S6316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there are many lobbyists around Capitol 
Hill. They perform the important task of informing Members and their 
staff about issues that are going to come before us. Some of them are 
volunteers, and some of them are paid very handsomely.
  There is a special group of lobbyists who are roaming the corridors 
of Capitol Hill in the House and Senate today and tomorrow. They are 
young people from across the United States. Many of them are college 
students, and all of them have one thing in common: They are Dreamers. 
They are young people who came to the United States under the age of 
18, many of them 2 years old, 4 years old, brought here by their 
parents. They grew up in this country. They went to our schools. Some 
of them were excellent students. Many of them have gone on to college--
at their own expense many times. Some have even enlisted in our 
military. They have a nagging problem. The problem is that they are not 
legally citizens of the United States. They don't have legal status in 
the United States, and so the uncertainty about that status has led 
many of them to wonder what their future will be.
  About 5 years ago, President Obama, at my urging, issued an Executive 
order that changed their lives. It was called DACA. It gave them a 
chance to come forward and register with the government, submit 
themselves to a criminal background check, get fingerprinted, pay a 
$500 fee, have their background looked at in detail, and gave them a 
chance to stay in the United States for 2 years at a time, and in that 
2-year period not be subjected to deportation and be able to work.
  Four weeks ago, President Trump announced that the DACA Program was 
going to be rescinded. Many of these young people don't know what their 
future will be from this point forward. A number of them came out to 
the steps of the Capitol this afternoon to talk about their lives. Two 
in particular I wanted to mention.
  Nathali Bertran from Columbus, OH, is a student who graduated from 
college after great sacrifice and has gone on to become an engineer. 
She is currently working in the Columbus area for a global automotive 
company. She has a bright future if she is allowed to stay in the 
United States. She doesn't know the answer to that because we haven't 
come up with a replacement for DACA, which was rescinded by President 
Trump.
  Jesus Perez is from Tulsa, OK. He had given up on a college education 
and a future, and then DACA came along, and he decided he wanted to be 
a doctor. He is on his way. He has finished community college. He is 
now about to complete his studies at Oklahoma State, and he wants to go 
to medical school. He works as a transporter and a surgical orderly in 
a hospital to make enough money to stay in school. His future is 
completely in doubt because of the uncertainty around what is going to 
happen to those who were protected by DACA.
  I have said many times that these young people were brought here by 
their parents. They didn't make the decision. I don't want to look 
negatively on their parents. If I were given a choice of skirting the 
law or even breaking the law to save my child's life or to give them 
security and safety, I know what I would do. I also know what these 
parents did. But the kids themselves were not in on that decision 
process.

  Now, all they are asking for is a chance to be a part of the only 
country they have ever known. They got up in the classroom every day at 
school and pledged allegiance to the only flag they ever knew, and most 
of them can sing only one national anthem, the anthem of the country 
they believe is their own, the United States. That is an important part 
of this conversation.
  If we believe in fairness and justice in America--and I think we do--
we want to be fair and just to these young people. If they have not 
done something in their lives that is dangerous, such as commit a 
crime, for example, that is serious, they ought to be given a chance. 
If they are willing to go to school or to work or to enlist in our 
military, why wouldn't we welcome them in so that they can be a part of 
our future, as they should be. The alternative, in many cases, is to 
ship them back to a country they cannot remember or never really knew, 
to a language they don't speak. That is not the right outcome.
  I want to thank Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He is my Republican 
cosponsor of the Dream Act. Senator Graham has been a stalwart. He and 
I may disagree on an issue every other day, but on this issue, we 
agree. We agree that America should step forward and do the right thing 
for these young people.
  I hope these lobbyists--I will use that term--who are Dreamers, who 
are roaming the Halls of Congress, will

[[Page S6316]]

make the same impression on my colleagues that they made on me--that 
their special lives and their special future will make this Nation a 
better Nation in the years to come.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the Hargan nomination?
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the 
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. 
Heller), and the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Ms. Cortez 
Masto) and the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 57, nays 38, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 211 Ex.]

                                YEAS--57

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Blunt
     Boozman
     Burr
     Capito
     Carper
     Cassidy
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Crapo
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Fischer
     Flake
     Gardner
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heitkamp
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     King
     Lankford
     Lee
     Manchin
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Paul
     Perdue
     Portman
     Risch
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sasse
     Scott
     Shelby
     Strange
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Wicker
     Young

                                NAYS--38

     Baldwin
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Casey
     Duckworth
     Feinstein
     Franken
     Gillibrand
     Harris
     Hassan
     Heinrich
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Klobuchar
     Leahy
     Markey
     Merkley
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Peters
     Reed
     Sanders
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Udall
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Cochran
     Cortez Masto
     Heller
     McCain
     Menendez
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________