[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 202 (Tuesday, December 12, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7965-S7972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  DACA

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I think that we are going to be joined here 
in a few moments by our colleague, the senior Senator from Illinois, 
Senator Durbin, who, for years and years, has been leading the fight 
for the Dreamers--for the young people who are affected by DACA. He may 
be tied up for a bit, but as we begin--because we are going to be in a 
colloquy on some of these issues--I want to recognize his extraordinary 
contributions.
  Nobody has been more focused and more relentless in terms of standing 
up for the rights of the Dreamers--the young people and the families 
who are caught up in DACA--than Senator Durbin, the senior Senator from 
Illinois, and I want to make sure that his role is recognized at the 
outset.
  I and Senator Merkley have spent a lot of time talking to these young 
people at home in our State, and we have held special forums on it. I 
am just stunned at what wonderful young people these folks are. 
Inevitably, their grades are at the top of their classes. They seem to 
be working two jobs, and they are sending money to relatives. They are 
just doing everything that we associate with hard work and thrift and 
ingenuity and with what has made our country so unique and so special 
in the world.
  I want to talk a little bit about what I have heard and also set the 
record straight with respect to DACA, because there is an awful lot of 
reckless talk about this legislation, and much of it just does not 
resemble the truth. Misinformation is being spread to discredit DACA 
recipients and their contributions to the country, and those innocent 
lives are being damaged. Right now, Dreamers face the very real and 
frightening threat that they may be ripped away from the only lives 
that they know and the only country that they have ever known, and I 
want to spell out why.
  The Congress is now up against an artificial deadline that was 
created by this President in his scrambling to come up with a solution 
for the 11,000 DACA recipients in Oregon and the hundreds of thousands 
all over the country. If nothing is done in the Congress this year, we 
know that these young people are going to be fearful, and they are 
going to go into the holidays while wondering what is ahead for them 
and their families. I just feel so strongly that they deserve better. 
They shouldn't be hanging in suspended animation--wondering what is 
going to happen to them, living in fear. My hope is that there will be 
action taken this year to help these young people. I feel so strongly 
that the end-of-the-year wrapup legislation has to include legislation 
to finally allow these young people to realize their hopes and dreams 
in this country.
  In his statement that announced the end of the DACA Program, the 
Attorney General said that our country must enforce our immigration 
laws, and he implied that the failure to enforce the laws somehow puts 
our country at risk of crime, violence, and terrorism. I can just say 
that, based on everything I have seen in Oregon, DACA recipients have 
not put our country at an increased risk of crime and terrorism, 
because, in fact, they are vital contributors to our Nation's success, 
including many who serve in our military.
  It is just wonderful, and it is so good to see our colleague from 
Nevada here, who, along with Senator Durbin, has championed the rights 
and interests of these young people. I know that she is going to speak 
shortly because she has seen the real-life consequences--the dangers--
that are being inflicted on our young friends, our neighbors, and those 
who are so fearful about what will happen if Congress does not act 
before the end of the year.
  This is not an abstraction for those like Mariana Medina, whose 
family

[[Page S7966]]

brought her to the United States when she was 3. She went on to 
graduate from Tigard High School, which is just outside my hometown of 
Portland. This past June, Mariana graduated from Portland State 
University with a bachelor's degree in political science. She speaks 
eloquently and powerfully about how she really wants to give back to 
the people of Oregon by helping the children and the families who are 
most in need of help. What a wonderful role model Mariana is.
  The debate is just as real for Ricardo Lujan, who graduated from 
Southern Oregon University in the spring. Ricardo is now the 
legislative director for the Oregon Student Association. There, he has 
been a strong advocate for legislation to give Oregon Dreamers a chance 
to get their own higher education degrees.
  Ricardo worked full time while going to school full time in order to 
pay for essentials. He said: I want to make sure that I am contributing 
to affording an apartment and a car. He said that without DACA, he 
would not have his bachelor of science degree today. He said that this 
law is a beacon of hope to young people like himself.
  In Oregon, there are now an estimated 11,000 Dreamers. All of these 
young people have parents and brothers and sisters and friends and 
people who know them in the community because they always want to help 
and chip in. They have roots in these communities. They have well-laid 
plans to work hard in school, make something of their lives, and start 
families of their own here in our country.
  It seems to me that with the groundswell of support for these 
Dreamers, before the end of this year, this Congress ought to be able 
to come up with a bipartisan, fair way to put an opportunity path 
forward for these young Americans. The effort from the White House, I 
have to say, and I regret it, to punish these young people and split 
families seems to run contrary to the values we hold dear as Americans.
  Our government, by the way, made a promise to these young people when 
the government encouraged them to share their stories publicly, submit 
to background checks, and pay taxes. That was something the government 
urged these young people to do--come forward, pay taxes, submit to 
background checks. We want to make sure that we are in a position--and 
I was hopeful when I heard about that pledge--to take action based on 
the fact that these young people were willing to come forward and say: 
We want to be contributing members of our country. We want to make sure 
that when the government asks us to come forward, we do. And they did 
so.
  I close with this, because I know my colleague wants to speak--
perhaps on the same subject--it would be wrong to turn our backs on 
these exceptional young people. I know my colleague from Nevada is 
going to keep fighting tooth and nail alongside so many of our 
colleagues.
  Senator Durbin was going to join me for a colloquy on some of these 
issues, and with the end of the year legislation barrelling toward us, 
I think he was detained, but I want to thank him for his leadership. In 
fact, he has joined us now.
  With the indulgence of my friend from Nevada, I would like to 
recognize my colleague from Illinois because no one in this Senate has 
put in the time or shown the tenacity and the years-long commitment to 
make this fight for justice for the Dreamers and those who are trying 
to work their way through the DACA Program to a better future for 
themselves and their communities. So I am very grateful to the Senator 
from Illinois.
  I had mentioned in his absence that we thought at one time we would 
have a full-scale colloquy, and I have pretty much used up my time in 
terms of making some of the points about issues we have raised. With 
the indulgence of our friend from Nevada, I want to again thank the 
Senator from Illinois. We are on the cusp of being able to finally get 
justice to these Dreamers and those in DACA, and I want this body and 
people who are following this issue to know that we would not be in 
this position without the help and the advocacy of the senior Senator 
from Illinois.
  I appreciate my friend from Nevada allowing us to have time for the 
Senator from Illinois.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Oregon, and I 
certainly thank my colleague from Nevada for giving me an opportunity 
to speak for a few minutes. I also thank my friend from Oregon for 
being steadfast on this subject.
  It has been 16 years since we passed the DREAM Act. We have been 
through a lot. We made it here on the floor of the Senate. We passed it 
on the floor of the Senate. There was an effort at comprehensive 
immigration reform which included the DREAM Act. It was a glorious day 
when it passed with a strong bipartisan vote and then a bitter 
disappointment in the months that followed when it languished on the 
floor of the House of Representatives and never was called for a 
hearing or a vote on the floor. So many of these thousands of young 
people who would be protected under the DREAM Act didn't know what the 
future would hold.
  President Obama stepped in and created DACA through Executive order, 
and with DACA protection, some 800,000 young people were given a chance 
to be part of America--something they always dreamed of. They went to 
college, got jobs, and they did important things in their lives that 
they had put off and frankly reached the conclusion that they would 
never be able to do.
  One of the things that many of them did, which surprised people, was 
to pursue their goal of being part of the U.S. military. We have an 
All-Volunteer military. These young people, undocumented in America, 
who have no legal status in our Nation, were prepared literally to give 
their lives for our country, the only country they have ever known. Is 
there any question in your mind as to their devotion to this Nation? 
Not in mine.
  When you hear their stories, you will understand why. I have a story 
I want to tell you tonight. It is a story about Alan Torres.
  Alan Torres was brought here as a child from Mexico. He grew up in 
North Dallas, TX, where he was a great student and athlete. In high 
school, he was placed in a program for advanced math and science. He 
took advanced placement courses in a variety of subjects which I 
dutifully avoided in high school, subjects such as physics, chemistry, 
anatomy, and physiology. He was captain of the high school varsity 
cross country team, where he won the district championship. He was the 
company commander in his high school's Junior ROTC. Not only was Alan 
an academic overachiever, he was also an artist on top of everything. 
His work was displayed and sold at regional level competitions, and he 
earned many awards.
  His most vivid memory of high school, however, was none of these 
things but of 9/11, the day of the terrorist attack on the United 
States. He was sitting in school, wearing his JROTC uniform in Texas, 
and he cried with his classmates when they heard what happened to 
America. He said he thought to himself, ``I can't believe this happened 
to my nation.'' My Nation. You see, as a kid, Alan always believed this 
was his Nation. It wasn't until he was unable to do things many of his 
friends could do that he realized he was undocumented in America, with 
no legal status. He couldn't get a driver's license like his buddies 
did. He couldn't apply for financial aid to go to college.
  Alan still pursued his dream despite these obstacles. By the time he 
graduated from high school, he was working three jobs to save up enough 
money to go to school. He attended a local community college because he 
didn't have any money. He needed low tuition. He received an 
associate's degree from Dallas Community College. Then he transferred 
to the University of Texas, Arlington. There, he got a bachelor's 
degree in information systems management. After all his hard work, he 
graduated from college debt-free. That is how hard he worked. He paid 
for his education out of his pocket because he couldn't count on any 
Federal loans or financial aid.
  Today, Alan Torres--this young, undocumented man, protected by DACA--
is a software engineer for IBM. He developed software that helps 
medical providers across the country to better manage the health of 
over 50 million patients.

[[Page S7967]]

  He wrote me a letter saying:

       [DACA] is what I would pray for all those nights when I 
     would stay up late doing homework or lay awake full of 
     anxiety for the future. It has allowed me to fulfill my 
     potential and reach my goals without the fear of not knowing 
     if I am going to wake up in a strange country tomorrow. . . . 
     Dreamers are not perfect, but we work hard, love this 
     country, and would love the opportunity to show it.

  Alan is one of 31 Dreamers working for IBM. People like Alan are the 
reason that IBM and a lot of business leaders are calling us and 
saying: Are you crazy, Senator? You would deport Alan Torres? He earned 
his education in the country the hard way. He succeeded where others 
failed. He has the ambition and drive that we all pray for in our 
children and those we admire, and you want to tell this man to leave 
the United States of America?
  These business leaders are pretty hard-nosed about this. For their 
part, they have an excellent employee, and they don't want to lose him.
  More than 400 business leaders wrote a letter to Congress urging us 
to pass the bipartisan Dream Act or DACA or whatever you want to call 
it. The letter says:

       Dreamers are vital to the future of our companies and our 
     economy. With them, we grow and create jobs. They are part of 
     why we will continue to have a global competitive advantage.

  That is the business viewpoint on this whole issue of the Dream Act.
  In a few weeks, we want to go home for Christmas. We want to 
celebrate with our families. We understand that it is a special time of 
year for so many in America, this Christmas and Hanukkah season. We 
know we give thanks at Thanksgiving, but we give it again on Christmas 
Day as we count our blessings. One of the blessings we count on is the 
blessing of opportunity.
  We know that in this great Nation, people have an opportunity to make 
a better life for themselves, their kids, for their future, and for our 
Nation. Think about Alan Torres over this Christmas, and think about 
800,000 just like him, uncertain about what the new year will bring, 
uncertain because we have failed to act in Congress.
  It was the President and Attorney General on September 5 who 
challenged us to do something. The President said: I am going to do 
away with Obama's Executive order, and now, Congress, do something. But 
all I hear from many of my colleagues is, well, let's see tomorrow if 
we can work this into the schedule or maybe next month or maybe the 
month after. We can't do that. There has to be a sense of urgency on 
our part too.
  These young people--many of them have tearful speculation about their 
own future. I just talked to one of my colleagues from Colorado who 
came back from a meeting with half-a-dozen Dreamers, and as they told 
their story, they all broke down in tears. Do you know why? They are 
just about to give up hope--not on our country but on us--on the 
Senate, on the House, on politics, on Congress. I think we are better 
than that.
  This Nation of immigrants has many people with many great stories. 
The Presiding Officer told a great story about his family and what it 
meant personally growing up. I have heard it and I am inspired by it, 
as I am and he is by many other stories we hear. This is what America 
is all about.
  This issue really tests who we are and what we believe in and what 
our values will be. There are 100 ways to get to the finish line, but 
we need to do it by December 22. That is when we are supposed to break 
for Christmas. Let's make sure that as we break for Christmas, we give 
these young people, these Dreamers, these DACA people we have 
protected, a bright future for a happy new year, literally.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I rise today with my colleagues to 
really put a face to what we are talking about here when we in 
Washington are making decisions that are impacting the real lives of 
the people back home in our States.
  I have to thank my colleague from Illinois, who has not only led the 
charge on this fight but has never given up for those Dreamers and 
their families, has really fought to show who they are because they are 
not numbers. They are real people.
  I go home to my State, and on a regular basis I meet with Dreamers 
and their families, and it is no different. We sit around and we talk 
and tell stories about their struggle and their fight just to have that 
American dream. They are crying. Many are afraid to even tell their 
stories.
  The first time I had an opportunity to sit with Dreamers, they had 
never told their story before because they were too afraid to tell it. 
They were too afraid that if they told it and left their home that day 
and went to work or went to school, that when they came back, their 
parents would not be there. It was the first time they came forward. It 
is no different now.
  This administration and what they are doing is continuing the fear in 
our communities. That is why now more than ever we have to pass the 
Dream Act. Since this administration ended DACA, more than 11,000 DACA 
recipients have lost their status. Each week, 851 Dreamers are losing 
their protection. If we fail to pass legislation to protect Dreamers, 
800,000 kids will be forced to watch their lives fall apart. They will 
lose their driver's licenses, their health insurance, their 
scholarships, their student loans, their work permits. They will face 
the constant threat of being detained, separated from their families, 
and forced out of the only home they know.
  This is not just a crisis for these kids and their families, it is a 
crisis for our country, and it is a crisis for businesses across 
America. If Dreamers lose their jobs, employers will incur nearly $3.4 
billion in costs. The Center for American Progress estimates that our 
GDP will shrink by $460.3 billion over the next decade. Over 800 
business leaders from companies like Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, 
Lyft, and Microsoft have signed a letter to Congress, as you have 
heard, urging legislators to pass the Dream Act. The value Dreamers add 
to our economy is apparent to our country's most innovative businesses, 
it is apparent to religious groups and advocacy organizations all 
across the Nation. What is it Congress is missing? Why are some Members 
of this body unable to see all the contributions these kids make?
  This is also a moral crisis. We cannot turn our back on Dreamers. We 
must embrace them. They are living examples of what America stands for 
as a nation, built through the sweat and hard work of generations of 
immigrants.
  Immigrants are a fundamental part of our communities. They always 
have been. They have built our railroads, our cities, our highways. 
They have founded businesses, invented groundbreaking technologies, and 
discovered lifesaving cures. Blue jeans, hamburgers, ketchup, YouTube, 
Google, Apple, even America's best idea--our national parks--these are 
iconic American inventions, and yet they were all created in whole or 
in part by immigrants.
  Immigrants have held public office. One of Nevada's first Senators 
was an immigrant. His name was James Graham Fair, and he was born to a 
family in Ireland. His father brought him to the United States when he 
was a child to escape the potato famine. He grew up on a farm in 
Illinois and moved to Nevada in the 1850s to get involved in silver 
mining. He made a fortune when a repository of silver ore in northern 
Nevada, known as the Comstock Lode, was discovered. The discovery of 
this silver made him wealthy beyond belief. Overnight, he became one of 
Nevada's silver kings. He invested his fortune in railroads and real 
estate and eventually accumulated over $40 million, and that is more 
than a billion dollars today.
  In 1881, he was elected to represent Nevada in the U.S. Senate. In 
1882, this Irish immigrant, a man who became a king because of the 
Comstock Lode, turned his back on other immigrants, and he voted in 
favor of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act was a 
watershed moment in the history of American immigration policy because 
it was the first time the Federal Government restricted immigration on 
the basis of race. I tell you this story because, to me, the Chinese 
Exclusion Act exemplifies a vicious truth--that immigrants and their 
descendants are often the ones fighting to keep the next generation of 
immigrants out. Sadly, this Congress--a group that includes many 
descendants

[[Page S7968]]

of immigrants--is in danger of making the same mistake.
  When are we going to acknowledge what basic economics, history, and 
scientific research have always proven to be true; that immigrants make 
our economy stronger, that immigrants come to our country and start 
businesses, apply for patents, create jobs, and invent technologies 
that change our world.
  The 800,000 Dreamers in this country don't want special treatment. 
They want the chance to live their lives and do all of those things 
without the fear of deportation looming over their heads. We have a 
President who is not just refusing to give them that chance but 
actively spreading lies and hate about who they are. I wish I could say 
this xenophobia--this hate--is something we have never seen before, but 
anti-immigrant sentiment is nothing new. These attempts to shut our 
doors are as old as our Nation itself.
  We are a nation of immigrants. We are caught in a vicious cycle. We 
look to our ancestors for inspiration. We benefit from the 
contributions of immigrants, but every generation, we default to the 
arrogance of power and treat immigrants as scapegoats and shut them 
out.
  A teacher from Sparks, NV, recently contacted my office to share the 
fear and uncertainty kids and families are feeling right now. David 
wrote:

       I teach music at Diedrichsen Elementary School in Sparks, 
     and my wife is the Assistant Principal at Desert Heights 
     Elementary in Stead. . . . We are seeing an increase in 
     stress, acting-out behaviors and absences in our students 
     from immigrant families. Another friend of mine who teaches 
     at a school with a large immigrant population has told me 
     about days when large numbers of children are absent because 
     of rumors of raids by ICE.

  These are the consequences of using immigrants as scapegoats.
  We are facing another watershed moment in our country's history. 
People will ask: Where were you when Dreamers' lives were hanging in 
the balance? Did you use your voice? Did you speak out?
  It is time to stop this cycle. It is time to do the right thing and 
pass the Dream Act, not just because it will add billions of dollars to 
our economy but because threats to immigrants are a threat to our 
communities, our safety, our lives, and the future of this country.
  The Dream Act is an investment in our future. Republicans in Congress 
are looking for a way to reduce the Federal deficit. Well, I have a 
solution for you. Passing the Dream Act would decrease the Federal 
deficit by $2.2 billion over 10 years. It turns out that the refrain we 
always hear that immigrants are taking away jobs is a myth. The economy 
is not a zero-sum game. Research shows that immigrants drive growth. 
They generate new patents at twice the rate of native-born Americans. 
In 2014, they earned $1.3 trillion and contributed $105 billion in 
State and local taxes and nearly $224 billion in Federal taxes. 
Immigrants are 30 percent more likely to start a business in the United 
States than nonimmigrants, and 18 percent of small business owners in 
the United States are immigrants. In 2007, these small businesses 
employed an estimated 4.7 million people and generated more than $776 
billion in revenue, but this fight is not just about our economy.
  At its core, this fight is about 800,000 uncertain futures. When you 
meet Dreamers like I have, you will see they are not numbers, and they 
are not graphs. They are hard-working young people who are putting 
themselves through school and supporting their families.
  They are young people like Maria, a Dreamer who was brought to the 
United States when she was 4 years old. Now, 22, she is working as a 
teacher and director of the Infant Toddler Program at a Montessori 
school in Washoe County, NV. She already has an associate's degree, but 
she plans to enroll in the University of Nevada, Reno to pursue a 
bachelors in education, human development, and family studies.
  Maria sent me a letter to tell me her story, and she wrote:

       I, as a Dreamer, am being truly affected by not knowing 
     what will happen with my future. Since we moved here, I have 
     learned what the meaning of true work ethic is and how to be 
     a positive asset to our nation. Being a DACA recipient means 
     I can never have a criminal record, I pay taxes, I have a 
     great job teaching our youth, and am still working hard to 
     continue my education. . . . I am here thanks to the 
     selflessness and courage my mother showed, and I believe any 
     parent would do the same for their children without 
     hesitation. My mother followed all the rules to quickly 
     become a true hard working member of this nation.

  In her letter, Maria told me all she wanted was a chance to follow 
the rules, show her potential, and continue working as a teacher.
  Maria's story is both an immigrant's story and an American story. It 
is a story about what happens when we give Dreamers a chance. Maria's 
story is no different from Sergey Brin's, the cofounder of Google who 
came here from Russia. It is no different from Madeleine Albright's, 
the first female Secretary of State, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia. 
It is no different from that of John Muir's, a Scottish immigrant, or 
that of Joseph Pulitzer's, a Hungarian immigrant, or that of Albert 
Einstein's, a German refugee.
  Dreamers' stories are no different from my own. My grandfather was 
born in Chihuahua, Mexico. He crossed the Rio Grande to come to this 
country. He served in our military, became a citizen, married my 
grandmother, and he raised a family. His son, my father, began his 
career as a parking attendant at the old Las Vegas Dunes Hotel. He 
worked his way up through the ranks to become the first Latino on the 
Clark County Commission and then president of the Las Vegas Convention 
and Visitors Authority. My mom and dad worked all of their lives so my 
sister and I could become the first in our family to earn a college 
degree.
  My family taught me that when someone opens a door for you, you hold 
it open for the next person coming along after, and that is what I am 
in the Senate to do--to make sure every American gets that same 
opportunity my grandfather had, that my parents had, and that my sister 
and I had.
  It is time to recognize that Dreamers are Americans, that their 
stories are no different from any of ours, that by taking away their 
protections, by allowing them to return to the shadows, we are allowing 
a vicious cycle to grind 800,000 dreams into the dust. It is time to 
learn from the mistakes of our predecessors. We must pass the Dream Act 
before the end of this year.
  Thank you for listening.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Durbin for 
organizing this time and for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of 
Dreamers across the country.
  Passing the Dream Act is about more than the law. It is about 
compassion and basic human decency. There is nothing compassionate or 
decent about revoking the status that 800,000 young people, including 
600 in Hawaii, depend on to live, work, and study in the only country 
they have ever known.
  Relying on a promise from the Federal Government, these young men and 
women came out of the shadows, handed over personal information, and 
underwent extensive background investigations to earn their DACA 
status, but the President's actions have put them all at risk. Like so 
many people, I have been moved by stories of how DACA has transformed 
the lives of Dreamers across the country.
  Earlier today, I spoke with two young Dreamers who flagged me down in 
the hallway as I was going from one hearing to another, and they asked 
to speak with me. One had traveled from Arizona and is only a high 
school student. He was all dressed up, and he had a bowtie on. The 
other who flagged me down in another part of the building lives in 
California and is originally from South Korea. Both asked me to 
continue to fight to pass the Dream Act before the end of this year.
  To see these young people politely approaching Members of Congress 
like me--I don't think a lot of them even had appointments, but they 
had to study the faces of the Members of Congress so, as they saw us in 
the hallway, they could come up to us. So the fact that they politely 
asked to speak with me, even as they literally are fighting for their 
lives, speaks volumes. We should open our hearts to them and support 
their cause.
  Like so many of my colleagues, I have met with Dreamers from my home 
State of Hawaii to hear about how DACA has changed and enriched

[[Page S7969]]

their lives. In October, I met with three young women studying at the 
University of Hawaii thanks to DACA.
  Karen, Maleni, and Beatrice were, in many ways, like any other 
college student. They balance busy class schedules with part-time jobs 
and extracurricular activities. They have also lived in fear since the 
President and his Attorney General made the cruel and arbitrary 
decision to end DACA on September 5. Karen, Maleni, and Beatrice told 
me they hadn't received any notice about what would happen after the 
program ended on March 5, 2018, and depended on media updates that 
would literally determine their futures. They shared hopes and concerns 
most of us would take for granted.
  When their newly issued driver's licenses expire, they may not be 
able to fly home to California to visit their families because they 
will no longer have valid IDs. After turning their information over to 
the Federal Government, they worry for their parents and families, many 
of whom are undocumented. When their work authorizations expire, they 
will have to drop out of college because they can't afford tuition.

  Karen is pursuing her master's degree in conservation biology and 
environmental science and hopes to have a career in research. She said:

       If I lose my DACA, that means I'd lose my work permit which 
     means I lose my graduate assistantship which means I can't 
     [graduate]. So thinking about those logistics is definitely 
     scary. Because I wouldn't be able to complete my education 
     unless I found another way to fund it.
       [Dreamers] are working to improve our lives, and the lives 
     of our families, and hopefully, through our professions, your 
     life too. We're becoming doctors and lawyers and teachers and 
     any field you can imagine there's probably at least one of us 
     represented. So give us a chance.

  Even with all they have been through, Karen, Maleni, and Beatrice 
told me they don't regret signing up for DACA because, although their 
futures are now in jeopardy, for a few years they were given a chance 
at their American dream.
  Dreamers like Karen, Maleni, and Beatrice are not asking for much. 
They are just asking us, as Karen said, ``for a chance.'' They are 
asking us to keep the promise we made to them, and it is in our power 
to do that.
  Around 10,000 Dreamers have already lost their DACA status since 
Attorney General Sessions announced the program's end. Every day 
Congress doesn't act, 122 Dreamers lose their DACA status. We are 
taking away these young people's chances of staying in school, pursuing 
meaningful careers, and even visiting their families at Christmas.
  While the President once called Dreamers ``absolutely incredible 
kids'' and made promise after promise to protect them, he has gone back 
on his word time and again. We can't rely on his empty promises.
  I ask my colleagues to put yourselves in the shoes of these Dreamers. 
What if your future in this country was uncertain after March 5? What 
if you were facing deportation to a country you don't even know so you 
have to start life all over again? What if your families lived in daily 
fear? If we can put ourselves in the shoes of Dreamers, what part of 
the Dreamers' uncertainty and living in fear can we not understand?
  Is it because we are not them? Is it that we can only relate to 
someone's existence or experience only if we lived it ourselves? If 
that is the only way we can relate to people's problems--people who 
come to us for help--then we are in a very sorry state.
  Most of us who serve in the Senate are only one or two generations 
removed from immigrant status or immigrant backgrounds. I, myself, am 
an immigrant. I was not born in this country. I came here with a single 
mother. I know what it is like to come to a new country where you don't 
speak the language and where you have to learn, where you have to 
adjust. All my mother asked for was a chance to attain the American 
dream.
  It really bothers me that at the time when we were talking about 
passing comprehensive immigration reform, Member after Member came to 
the floor of the Senate and talked about their immigrant backgrounds. 
Yet too many of them were perfectly happy to shut the door on 
immigrants in this country--over 11 million undocumented persons--to 
shut the door in their faces; forgetting that most of us come from 
immigrant backgrounds; forgetting that this country, apart from the 
original people who were here, American Indians, we are all immigrants.
  So let's put ourselves in the shoes of our Dreamers. Let's open our 
hearts to them. These are young people who just want to have a chance 
at the American dream that too many of us take for granted now. Let's 
not only be able to empathize with people whose experiences we have 
lived. Let's not be there, let's not go there.
  I call on my colleagues to support the Dream Act now.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank my friend from Hawaii and Senator 
Durbin for his work and Senator Cortez Masto, who is off to a really 
good start in her first year in the Senate. I thank them for their work 
on this issue that is personal to Senator Cortez Masto and Senator 
Hirono because they are not that far removed from coming to this 
country.
  My family has been here longer, but this issue is personal to me 
because of the people I met whom I will mention in my relatively short 
remarks. I want to tell some stories about people I have met.
  Immigrants in my State and across this country make vital 
contributions to our economy and local communities. They are business 
owners and entrepreneurs. They are educators and students. They are 
workers and leaders in the community. They serve our Nation in the 
military.
  For many immigrants brought here as children--and this is the key 
point--this is the only country they have ever known. They may speak 
Spanish at home or speak Arabic at home or they may speak Bengali at 
home or they may speak Urdu at home, but they don't know those 
countries they came from because they were small children when they 
came.
  President Trump promised to go after violent criminals, not innocent 
children. Unfortunately, his efforts have been aimed not at violent 
criminals who should, in fact, be removed from our country, but he has 
gone after so many innocent families and innocent children.
  My daughter Emily is a legal aid lawyer for immigration in Columbus. 
She has told me stories of families who have played by the rules, they 
worked hard, they are active in their church, they hold full-time jobs, 
and they are raising their kids. Their kids are doing well in school, 
and the mother and father get deported, not because they have ever 
committed a crime but because they came here a number of years ago to 
escape violence in the countries they came from.
  Those are not the same situations exactly as these DACA kids, but we 
know who these DACA children are--these Dreamers. We shouldn't be 
targeting young people who are contributing to this country--the 
country they grew up in, and the only home they have ever known. They 
are working, going to school, paying taxes, and serving in our 
military.
  Ariel was brought to the United States as a baby when he needed 
medical treatment for a rare condition. He has lived here ever since. 
He attends Cuyahoga Community College, a few hours from my home. He is 
working toward a degree in business administration. He wants to be an 
entrepreneur who will create jobs in his community and my community. 
Other Dreamers have jobs, and they are contributing already to our 
community.
  I heard from Elvis, who grew up in Northwest Ohio. He graduated from 
Ohio State and works at Nationwide. He told us:

       The contributions of DACA recipients are not only present 
     in metropolitan areas but also in rural ones. This is evident 
     to me, someone who grew up in rural Ohio, and whose family 
     continues to live there, every day.

  Nathali in Columbus works as a product development and design 
engineer at Honda. She has lived here since she was 9. Her DACA status 
expires this summer. If she isn't protected, she will probably have to 
give up her job. She is contributing to America's economy, to Ohio's 
auto industry, and she pays taxes.

[[Page S7970]]

  I heard from Vania in Delta, OH, a suburban farm community west of 
Toledo. She oversees the entire human resources department in her 
company, one of the largest bell pepper growers in the country. She 
said:

       I was raised in this community, graduated high school and 
     college here, and am currently giving back to it in my role. 
     I have established myself as a contributing member of this 
     community and for this reason, among many others, I deserve a 
     chance to continue my work.

  All she says is: I want to continue my work. I want to continue 
raising a family. I want to continue contributing to this country. I 
want to continue to work in my community. I want to continue to be a 
good citizen. She is not asking for a handout. She wants what most 
Americans want, to be able to keep doing her work.
  There is no question our immigration system is broken, but we don't 
fix it by kicking out these contributing members of our communities who 
grew up here--underscore that. They may not have been born here, but 
they grew up here. They know our country. They live in Toledo and 
Dayton and Xenia, and they live in Mansfield. Those are their lives, as 
it was my life growing up in Mansfield.
  We don't fix our immigration system by kicking out these contributing 
members who grew up here and made their home here--who are American in 
every sense except the paperwork. It is time for us to come together to 
put partisan considerations aside and pass a commonsense solution that 
protects these kids, protects these Dreamers, and upholds our American 
values
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I want to thank all my colleagues who have 
spoken today. I really want to thank Senator Durbin, who has been a 
friend and a mentor of mine since I came to the Senate almost exactly 4 
years ago. I thank him for his leadership right now--really leading us 
on both sides of the aisle, as a central focal point for the Dreamers--
and for his words. I thank him for his leadership today and throughout 
this effort, making sure we don't leave for the holidays, leaving 
thousands of children in our country who know no other country--young 
adults--in a purgatory where they are anxiously waiting to see if this 
body will act.
  This is a time where we have seen incredible activism. I cannot tell 
you how many times I have been stopped by Dreamers who drove for over 
24 hours--drove across this country to come to the Capitol to make 
their case known. They love this country. They serve this country. They 
only know this country. They were here before they could even speak. 
They and their fellow American allies have been struggling and toiling 
and fighting for recognition. It reminds me of generations of Americans 
in the past who were fighting and toiling and struggling for 
recognition as citizens when citizenship was denied them.
  I know stories from my own family, African Americans, who, literally, 
like many of these Dreamers--900 of these Dreamers--have served in the 
military. I know these stories from my family--people who served in 
war, served in World War II, served in Korea, like my father, and came 
back to a country that did not recognize their citizenship rights.
  Women, Jews, Irish--so much of the story of America is Americans 
struggling and toiling and fighting, often coming to the Capital of the 
United States of America, fighting for recognition of their citizenship 
rights. They are patriots.
  The young people I have encountered in my home State and the young 
people I have encountered here in the Capitol are patriots. Patriotism 
is love of country. I am one of these folks who believe that love of 
country is better seen than heard. I am telling you right now, the 
Dreamers I have encountered, their service, their sacrifice, their 
contributions to this country should resonate.
  We know the data. Billions of dollars of our economy is being fueled 
by Dreamers who are here serving in every imaginable capacity--there 
for their neighbors, there for their community, there for other 
children, there for America.
  I sat across from Dreamers in New Jersey who now, because of the 
inaction here in Washington, because of the uncertainty, these folks--
for whom we have collectively contributed to their education, 
contributed to their success, and are enjoying the fruits of their 
success--are now suddenly withdrawing from schools. They are feeling 
nervous that they are going to be ripped away from family members--
younger siblings who are already recognized citizens--as they fight for 
their citizenship rights. I have seen the pain. I have seen the 
anxiety. I have shared the tears as they continue this fight, hoping 
this body will act.
  There are folks like Liz. She is a Dreamer from Ridgefield, NJ. She 
literally created a startup business that employs over 800 people. She 
is a job creator, an entrepreneur, an innovator whom people rely on for 
their jobs, and we are going to turn around and say to Liz: You have to 
leave the United States of America, the only country you know.
  What about people like Jesus Contreras? He was the paramedic from 
Houston who worked for 6 straight days, pulling all-nighter after all-
nighter after Hurricane Harvey hit. Here is a guy who, when we faced a 
crisis and people's lives were on the line, stepped up. That is 
patriotism. That is love of country. You can't love your country unless 
you love your country men and women. The way you show you love your 
country men and women isn't just through the songs you sing and the 
pledges you make, it is the actions you take. In a crisis, he was there 
reaching out to American hands with his hand that is worthy.

  Dreamers have been a gift to this Nation. They are hard-working 
patriots deserving of our respect. They come from a long tradition of 
people who have served this country, fought for this country, struggled 
for this country, who battled for respect from this country. They look 
up and say: I, too, am an American. Don't judge me by a piece of paper 
that says so. Look at my deeds. Look at my actions. Look at my life.
  This, our wealth; this, our natural resource; the genius created in 
the image of God; we are going to cast these folks out of our Nation, 
and for what?
  I believe that the opposite of justice is not injustice; it is 
inaction. It is indifference. It is apathy. This body has not acted. It 
has not shown a level of compassion to patriots. It has rewarded the 
service of these Dreamers and the sacrifice of these Dreamers with 
nothing but silence and inaction.
  As other days before it, today I am glad that I stand with colleagues 
who will not be silent. This tradition in our country of solid 
citizens, of patriots who fought, who loved, who contributed to this 
country, this tradition that runs deep in my family, that runs deep in 
the families of so many here--when they were told they were not 
citizens, did not have equal rights--from suffragettes to civil rights 
activists--this body finally got it right and finally responded.
  This is the dream of America. These young people are called Dreamers. 
This is the dream of America.
  There was a man who talked about being denied his citizenship rights 
and who wrote a powerful poem that is as appropriate today as it was 
when he wrote it. His name is Langston Hughes. As these Dreamers 
struggle to be recognized for what they are--citizens of this country--
as they put forth a dream that is no more precious or no more worthy 
than the dreams of my family, of your family, may the words of Langston 
Hughes speak to our spirits and our souls and motivate us. Langston 
said:

     There is a dream in the land
     With its back against the wall
     By muddled names and strange
     Sometimes the dream is called.

     There are those who claim
     This dream for theirs alone--
     A sin for which we know
     They must atone.

     Unless shared in common
     Like sunlight and like air,
     The dream will die for lack
     Of substance anywhere.

     The dream knows no frontier or tongue,
     The dream, no class or race.
     The dream cannot be kept secure
     In any one locked place.

     This dream today embattled,
     With its back against the wall--
     To save the dream for one
     It must be saved for all.

  Mr. President, I tell you this with all of my heart: I have met these 
young

[[Page S7971]]

Americans. I have seen their service. I know their sacrifice. They have 
worn our uniforms, from our military uniforms to the uniforms of first 
responders. They have taught our children. They have benefited from our 
public schools--from our kindergartens, to our eighth grades, to our 
high schools, to our colleges, and to our universities. We have 
invested in them, and that investment is paying dividends. They are the 
American dream. They represent the best of who we are and who we aspire 
to be.
  They collectively, with the other young people of this Nation, are 
our greatest hope for the future. If we cast them out, if we send them 
into the wildernesses of lands that are strange to them, to places 
where some of them don't even speak the tongue, it will be a sad day, a 
tragic day for them but even more so for us.
  What does it say about a nation that turns its children away for no 
other reason than they came here when they were 2 or 3 and weren't born 
here? We are better than this. We are greater than this. Our Nation's 
ideals are loftier than this.
  So in the same spirit that this body was slow to move to grant full 
citizenship rights to enslaved people, in the same way that this body 
was slow to move to finally grant citizenship rights to every woman in 
our country, and in the same spirit that this body was slow to move to 
grant full citizenship rights and voting rights and civil rights to 
African Americans, I hope we may summon in this generation, in a cause 
that is noble, the courage to do the right thing and not be stuck in 
inaction.
  It is time for us to act as a body. It is time for us to recognize 
the full citizenship rights of those who have proven themselves already 
through the greatest actions one can do--service to another, service to 
our country, service to the ideals that we have.
  Mr. President, thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Daines). The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I am honored to join my colleagues on 
the floor today, and I want to thank our great and distinguished leader 
on this issue, Senator Durbin, who has devoted so many years and so 
much energy and has been a model for me personally of what an advocate 
should be in the Senate and most especially on this issue, which has 
been preeminently important to me since my arrival here almost 7 years 
ago.
  For a time, I was on the floor almost every week, periodically, with 
a photo of another Dreamer, and the reason was to make this issue real 
in the hearts of the American people, to bring their voices and faces 
to this body.
  Today, I am joined in spirit by Alejandra Villamares. She is one of 
8,000 Dreamers in Connecticut. I am proud of each and every one of 
them. She is one of 700,000 Dreamers in the United States of America, 
and I hope that my colleagues are proud of them in their States, as 
well, because they are absolutely incredible people. Nobody's perfect, 
but in many ways, they embody the spirit and values of America. They 
work hard. They go to school. They are future engineers, scientists, 
nurses, and doctors. They are of immense value to our economy because 
they work and contribute, and they will better themselves through 
education, through their values. And they know what it means to be an 
American citizen. Even though they are not, they know the value of 
citizenship.
  Alejandra came to this country when she was 1 year old. She was 
brought here by her parents, across the border from Mexico. Her family 
lived in a cramped, small house with her two uncles. They had very 
little money. She and her sister were bullied by students in elementary 
school because, of course, they had to learn English. They spoke with 
an accent. She told me: ``My mother told me not to give up.'' That is 
what she wrote me a couple of days after the President of the United 
States announced that he would end the DACA Program. She wrote me 5 
days after the Trump administration rescinded DACA, and her story has 
stuck with me, haunted me over these months, just as when I have met 
with Dreamers--as I did just this past Monday in Hartford, CT--to 
reassure them that I was going to fight every day that we have 
remaining in this session, their stories have haunted and moved and 
inspired me.
  Alejandra was bullied, but even as she was bullied for speaking a 
different language--her native language--and learning English, even as 
her father was deported, even as her family was left without him and 
with even less support, they persevered.
  She wrote to me: ``I made it my mission to prove that I was worthy of 
being considered an American.'' How many of us, growing up, made it our 
mission to prove ourselves worthy of being an American? I daresay few 
of us considered that mission. Most of us take for granted that we are 
Americans, that we are citizens of the greatest country in the history 
of the world.
  Slowly but surely she learned English, and it became her primary 
language. In 2012, she got a break: The Obama administration enacted 
DACA. She could come out of the shadows. She could have a place, some 
security. That step unlocked for her--literally unlocked for her--the 
American dream.
  For all of us who take for granted what it means to be an American, 
who have never made it a mission to become an American, we often take 
for granted the American dream. Well, we belong here. No one is going 
to send us away. No one is going to deport us to a land we have no 
knowledge of, to a place away from our friends and our families. But 
DACA meant something else as well, more than just emotional; it meant 
that she could go to college, and she did. She went to Wesley, where 
she is now a student. For once, she had the immense luxury of not being 
afraid. She could go to college and study--as she is now studying--film 
and international relations. She felt empowered to speak up and 
participate in her community.
  She worked at Delaware Goes to College Academy and the Summer 
Learning Collaborative. They both promote education for disadvantaged 
youth. She was now not only learning and studying at one of the great 
universities in our country but giving back to others, enabling others 
to climb that same ladder, young people with disadvantages like hers to 
make the most of themselves and to achieve that American dream.
  When Attorney General Sessions, with the President's approval, 
rescinded DACA in September, Alejandra wrote to me:

       I wanted this to be my country so badly. One thing that I 
     knew from the bottom of my heart was that I wanted to stay 
     here, and that I was an American.

  Anyone who looks at Alejandra, knows her story, and hears her words 
has to be heartbroken that a young woman seeking so deeply to be an 
American, to live the American dream and American values, to give back 
to this country that she loves, and never to take for granted what so 
many of us do--we have to be heartbroken to hear those words and her 
story.
  I have heard my colleagues say: Well, why now? Why not wait until 
after the new year? Why not wait until March? Why not wait? Waiting 
until March would mean an extension of her anxiety, apprehension, and 
fear. It would also mean the extension of a humanitarian crisis.
  Make no mistake, for 8,000 young people in Connecticut and 700,000 in 
the United States of America, threatening deportation to them is an 
unprecedented message to the world and to ourselves. It says something 
about who we are. To leave them hanging is not only unfair, it is 
unworthy of us as Americans.
  More practically speaking, tens of thousands of DACA recipients are 
estimated to have already lost their protection from removal. Kicking 
the can down the road would mean continued anguish for those 700,000 
young people, and it would mean breaking a promise. They came forward. 
They provided their addresses, their cell phone numbers, their tax 
information on the promise that it would not be used against them.
  It would mean instability in the job market, and it would hurt our 
economy. That is why employers are coming forward and urging us to act 
now. Companies have been forced to consider whether they should fire 
DACA recipients and train new employees in anticipation of the March 
deadline. It would churn and create turmoil if we fail to act. In fact, 
it already is creating chaos and confusion because

[[Page S7972]]

looming on the horizon ominously, inextricably, is the threat of mass 
deportation.
  It would be a humanitarian nightmare, and it is a bureaucratic 
nightmare, as well, to wait. If the Dream Act is passed, the United 
States Citizenship and Immigration Services has work to do. They need 
to develop new regulations, process applications. This involves 
conducting security checks, biometric screening, notifying the 
applicants, and doing the paperwork. Experts say that this process 
could take up to 7 months in total. So we are already late. We are 
already late in beginning and accomplishing this task.
  If we delay our action, thousands of Dreamers will lose their 
protections before the law is fully implemented. Young, contributing 
members of our society--like Alejandra--who have done nothing wrong 
will be dragged back into the shadows, to lose their drivers licenses, 
to lose their jobs, to lose their sense of security, to fear every day 
the sound of police sirens, as so many do right now.
  The administration has literally thrown a timebomb to this body, and 
it is ticking. We have the power to diffuse it. We have the power to do 
the right thing. We have the power and we have the obligation to truly 
give those 700,000 Dreamers the ability to make the most of themselves 
and make the most of this country.
  Often, when I think of the Dreamers, I think of my father, who came 
to this country in 1935. He was 17 years old. He knew virtually no one. 
He spoke almost no English. He had not much more than the shirt on his 
back, and he was a Dreamer, although he came here legally. He became a 
U.S. citizen. Nobody loved this country more than my dad.
  I sometimes think how sad and ashamed he would be about the way we 
have denied Dreamers the opportunity and security that he felt coming 
here, escaping persecution in Germany. This country has never been 
perfect, but we are the greatest country in the history of the world 
because we are a nation of immigrants.
  If you are ever discouraged or down about your lives or about the 
country, you may want to try going to the immigration naturalization 
ceremonies in your State. They happen in Connecticut every week in 
courthouses. I go as often as I can on Fridays, when they usually 
occur, in Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, because it is so 
uplifting. It is so very inspiring to see people who are moved and 
grateful beyond words--moved to tears--in becoming citizens of the 
United States.
  The judges usually give me an opportunity to say a few words, and I 
thank them for wanting to become citizens. I tell them ``You passed a 
test that most Americans couldn't pass,'' and they laugh, as perhaps 
some who are listening now would laugh because they know it is true.
  They wanted to become American citizens, so they studied and they 
prepared. Many of them came long distances, escaping persecution--just 
as my dad did--and left behind families, loved ones, jobs, careers. 
They wanted to be citizens. They will never take it for granted, nor 
will Alejandra if she is given that opportunity. She wants it too. She 
is a Dreamer, not only in name but in spirit. I hope all of us keep her 
in mind and in heart when we think about what we are going to do in the 
next couple of weeks.
  As for me, I am determined that we should not leave here for our 
holiday without acting on this measure. I know we can do it if both 
sides of the aisle are reasonable, responsible, and responsive. The 
vast majority of the American people are with Alejandra. They know her 
as a neighbor; they know her as a friend. Even though they may never 
have met her, they know people like her who are in their communities, 
and they know the immense contribution that she and others like her can 
make.
  I know so many of them who share that simple goal to become a U.S. 
citizen, and it begins with permanent status, a path--a path to earn 
citizenship. Whatever it may be called, it begins with a sense of 
security and belonging.
  I hope this body will pass the Dream Act and give Alejandra and so 
many like her that opportunity to accomplish the American dream.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________