[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 180 (Monday, November 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7031-S7032]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on September 5, 2 months ago, Attorney 
General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration's repeal of 
the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, better known as 
DACA.
  DACA provides temporary legal status to immigrant students if they 
register with the government, pay a fee, and pass criminal and national 
security background checks. It was renewable on a 2-year basis.
  The young people protected by DACA are also known as Dreamers. They 
came to the United States as children. They grew up knowing only this 
country, believing this was their home and their future. Many of them 
in their teenaged years were told quietly by a parent that their legal 
status was not the status of an American citizen. These kids, who grew 
up singing the Star Spangled Banner and pledging allegiance to the 
American flag, have no country.
  It was 7 years ago that I sent a letter to President Obama, joined by 
Senator Dick Lugar, a Republican from Indiana. On a bipartisan basis, 
we asked President Obama to establish a program like the DACA Program. 
The President responded, and DACA has been a success. Almost 800,000 
Dreamers have come forward. They have surrendered to their government 
the information that many of their families kept secret for years. They 
trusted us. They gave this information to the government and said: We 
want to become part of America's future, and we are willing to sign up, 
submit ourselves to the background check, pay our taxes, pay our filing 
fee, and do whatever is necessary. They trusted us. These young people 
who came forward and received DACA have then gone on to contribute more 
fully to their country. They are teachers, nurses, engineers, first 
responders, and servicemembers in our military.
  Now, because of President Trump's announcement, the deportation clock 
is ticking on these young people. Beginning on March 5, 2018, not that 
long from now, every workday for the following 2 years approximately 
1,400 Dreamers will lose their work permits and be subject to 
deportation. These young people who trusted our government will now, 
with the decision to end DACA, find themselves in an extremely 
vulnerable position.
  When they lose their DACA protection, if they are teachers, they are 
forced to leave their students. If they are nurses, they are forced to 
leave their patients. If they are first responders, they leave their 
post. If they are soldiers willing to die for our country, they are 
forced to leave our military service.
  This isn't just a looming humanitarian crisis. It is also an economic 
crisis. The nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy 
reports that DACA-eligible individuals contribute an estimated $2 
billion a year in State and local taxes. The Cato Institute, a 
conservative operation, estimates that ending DACA and deporting DACA 
recipients will cost $60 billion and result in a $280 billion reduction 
in economic growth over the next 10 years.
  Poll after poll shows overwhelming bipartisan support for these 
Dreamers. Even FOX News--no liberal media outlet--recently found that 
79 percent of Americans support a path to citizenship for Dreamers, 
including 63 percent of those who voted for President Trump. Sixty-
three percent, or almost two out of three Trump supporters, supports a 
legal status for Dreamers.
  The answer is clear. Congress needs to pass the Dream Act, and we 
need to

[[Page S7032]]

do it before we leave Washington, DC, for the holidays.
  It was 16 years ago that I first introduced this bipartisan 
legislation to give a path of citizenship to these young people. In 
July I introduced the most recent version with my friend, Lindsey 
Graham, a Republican Senator from South Carolina.
  Over the years I have come to the floor almost 100 times to tell 
individual stories of the Dreamers. These stories tell us what is at 
stake when we consider the fate of DACA and the Dream Act. Today, I 
want to tell you about Ha Eun Lee.
  When she was 6 years old, her family came to the United States from 
Korea. She grew up in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Here is what Ha Eun says 
about her childhood in the United States: ``I was fortunate enough to 
grow up learning that diversity is encouraged and differences are not 
just tolerated but welcomed.''
  Ha Eun was a good student and committed to public service. In high 
school she was a member of the National Honor Society, received the 
Principal's Academic Achievement Award, and was an Oakland Activities 
Association Scholar Athlete. She was a member of the track and field 
team during all 4 years of high school.
  Ha Eun is now a senior at the University of Michigan, majoring in 
English. She volunteers with the Red Cross, and she is copresident of 
an organization called The Supply, which raises money to help students 
in Nairobi, Kenya, obtain an education. As copresident, Ha Eun has 
expanded this organization's efforts, and they are now volunteering 
locally near Detroit.
  Ha Eun was also a policy and programs intern for the Asian Americans 
Advancing Justice Center.
  As Ha Eun completes her last year of college, her dream is to become 
a lawyer. She wrote me a letter, and here is what she said:

       Although I'm legally labeled as an ``alien'' in this 
     country I call home, I believe I am an American. And I 
     believe this not solely because I live, study, work and 
     contribute to this country, but because I believe in the core 
     values all Americans share as a nation: liberty, justice, and 
     prosperity.

  Ha Eun and other Dreamers have so much to contribute to our country, 
but without DACA or the Dream Act, they will be deported back to 
countries where they haven't lived since they were children. Will 
America be stronger if we deport people like Ha Eun? I think the answer 
is obvious.
  When we introduced the Dream Act, Senator Graham said: ``The moment 
of reckoning is coming.'' That moment has arrived. Congress has a 
responsibility to do our job and make the Dream Act the law of the land 
before the end of the year, before we go home for the holidays; 
otherwise, we will bear the responsibility for forcing hundreds of 
thousands of talented young immigrants out of the workforce and putting 
them at risk of immediate deportation.
  Many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle are interested in 
finding a path to get this done. I salute all of them who in good faith 
have offered their help. We have to focus now. We have to come together 
and focus.
  Many of my Republican colleagues have said that we need to put in 
border security elements. Count me in. Let's sit down and have an 
honest discussion about making our borders safer and stronger. I will 
gladly join that conversation. I think there are many things we can 
agree on that will lessen the likelihood that there will be those 
coming across the border in the years to come.
  I recently met with the head of border security, and we talked about 
things that might be done. There is something called a Z Portal. I 
didn't know about it. It is a virtual x ray machine, a low-level 
radiation x ray machine that can x ray vehicles and determine whether 
they are secreting individuals or contraband that shouldn't be allowed 
in this country. He talked about one particular border crossing and 
said: We have a Z Portal there, but it can be used on only about one 
out of every five vehicles. He said: I would like to have more of them.
  I think he should. Why wouldn't we make that part of border security? 
I said: What about other things coming into this country, other than 
people?
  He said: One thing we are concerned about is fentanyl.
  Fentanyl is a chemical that is used to enhance the addiction of 
heroin, and, sadly, it is deadly. Many heroin addicts die when they 
lace the heroin with fentanyl and inject it, so we try at the borders 
to stop the importation of this fentanyl from China and other countries 
into the United States. I asked him about it.
  He said: Sadly, we don't have enough new spectrometers, which are 
used to test these chemicals. We need them to stop the flow of this 
deadly drug into our country and to protect the men and women who are 
doing the actual surveillance.
  Isn't that something we can agree on, on a bipartisan basis, to make 
our borders safer, to lessen the likelihood of people dying from the 
opioid heroin crisis? These are things we can do together.
  Somehow we haven't been able to come up with a list of particulars 
from the other side of what they would like to move forward on, but I 
am ready, willing, and determined to get this done.
  We have to do this this year. There is no excuse. There are too many 
lives at stake, not just the 780,000 DACA individuals but all of the 
people whom they are helping in their lives today. They are depending 
on us.
  We are running out of time. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle to join me in this constructive and bipartisan effort.
  I yield the floor.

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