[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 204 (Thursday, December 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S8030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  DACA

  Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I want to cover two topics. There is so 
much to cover between now and the end of the year, but I want to focus 
today on two issues. One is the Children's Health Insurance Program, 
and the second is the so-called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, 
the so-called DACA Program, and in particular the individuals affected 
by this policy, the Dreamers. I will start with that issue.
  The Dreamers, of course, are something on the order of 800,000 young 
people who were promised that if they came forward and made 
disclosures, their government would protect them. That is the basic 
promise that our government made. This is a significant moment in their 
lives and in the life of the Nation as to whether we are going to keep 
what I would argue is a sacred promise to 800,000 young people and in 
my home State of Pennsylvania, at last count, thousands, as many as 
5,900, approximately.
  In this case, we are talking about this issue because a promise was 
made, and then in the transition from one administration to the other, 
a different approach was taken. In September, President Trump decided 
to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. This 
announcement required those whose DACA waivers would expire within 6 
months to submit a renewal application in just 1 month--not a lot of 
time to get that done.
  Unfortunately, many DACA recipients were unable to meet this short 
deadline, and others who managed to get their applications in time were 
still rejected due to postal delays--not because of something that 
young person did but due to postal delays. While the administration has 
said these individuals may be able to resubmit, many are immediately at 
risk of deportation.
  Just imagine that. In fact, it is impossible for me to imagine it, 
and maybe it is impossible for anyone in this building to imagine that 
you are an individual who came forward because of this program, because 
of a promise your government made to you that you would be protected if 
you came forward. You came forward after years of living in this 
country--many years wouldn't add up to a long life because these 
individuals are obviously very young. Some of them came when they were 
just a couple years old or a couple of months old, and they know no 
other country. In fact, one individual whom I met with around a big 
conference table of about 15 to 20 DACA recipients said to me in this 
meeting a couple of months ago, she said: The only country that I know, 
doesn't want us. That was her assessment of what the ending of this 
program should mean to her.
  So that is what they are at risk of. They are not just at risk of 
some theoretical consequence. They are literally at risk of deportation 
after living here all these years and not knowing any other country 
because of their circumstances.
  It is estimated that 12,000 DACA recipients have already lost their 
protection--12,000 young people--and that number will grow to some 
20,000 by March. Why would our country break a promise to 12,000 
individuals and then 20,000 and then potentially much, much higher 
numbers? So we can't wait one more day, in my judgment, to help these 
Dreamers.
  Dreamers across Pennsylvania and the Nation already are living in 
fear and feeling the consequences of this horrific decision.
  ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has already picked up a 
young Dreamer during a routine traffic stop whose DACA waiver had 
expired. This Dreamer had been waiting to reapply for protection after 
his initial application was rejected due to--I will say it again--
postal delays. While the administration has said they would allow these 
applications that were rejected due to postal delays the chance to 
reapply, the administration has been silent on what these individuals 
should do in the interim. For many Dreamers, this means they must 
choose between risking deportation and continuing to work and provide 
for their children and their families, depending on the circumstance.
  These Dreamers have done everything right, and their applications 
were rejected, not due to any action they did not take, but they were 
rejected for other reasons--due to a failure of our government. Yet, 
now, they are paying the price.
  Risking ICE detention and deportation to countries within which they 
have never lived as adults is totally contrary to our values. Dreamers 
are young people who have lived in this country since they were 
children. They are law-abiding residents who have learned English, paid 
taxes, gone to school, secured jobs that support themselves and their 
families.
  This program has enabled almost 800,000 young people to grow and 
thrive in America. These impressive young people provide enormous 
contributions to our society, including paying an estimated $2 billion 
every year in State and local taxes. The economic loss to Pennsylvania 
is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. To be exact, by one 
estimate, it is a $357.1 million loss to the State's GDP. How about the 
Nation overall? By one estimate, if this were to go forward and these 
young people were to be deported in the numbers some are talking about, 
it is a national number that is in the hundreds of billions of 
dollars--by one estimate, north of $400 billion. That is the impact.
  So we have to get this done one way or the other. It would be a 
terrible failure of our government; worse than that, it would be an 
insult to our country, and it would be breaking a sacred promise.