[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11-S13]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on September 5 of last year, Attorney 
General Sessions announced the repeal of the Deferred Action for 
Childhood Arrivals Program, which has been called DACA. The same day, 
President Trump called on Congress to come up with a solution to 
``legalize DACA.''
  The history of this issue I have explained many times on the floor, 
and I will say it briefly. Seventeen years ago, I introduced a bill 
called the DREAM Act, which said that if you were brought to the 
country as an infant, a toddler, a child, and you were raised in 
America and went to school here, had no problems of any serious nature 
with the law, that you would be given a chance to become a citizen of 
the United States.
  Many of these children, of course, didn't have a voice in the 
decision of their families to come to this country, and this is the 
only country they know. They have gone to our schools. They have 
graduated from our schools. They stood up in the classrooms of those 
schools each and every day and pledged allegiance to that flag. It was 
their flag and their country. Many of them didn't learn until they were 
in high school, that technically, in the eyes of the law, this wasn't 
true; they were undocumented. They were illegal in the eyes of the law.
  So what I tried to do with the DREAM Act was to give these young 
people a chance--a chance to become part of America's future and to 
become, ultimately, earning their way to legalization and earning their 
way to citizenship. That was the DREAM Act. We have passed it at 
various times in the Senate. We passed it in the House over the years. 
We have never done it at the same time, same year.
  So I called on President Obama and asked him if he would issue an 
Executive order and do something to help these young people. He created 
DACA. DACA said to the young people: Come forward, pay your filing fee, 
go through a criminal background check, and we will let you stay in 
America for 2 years at a time, renewable, and we will let you work in 
this country. Well, more than 780,000 young people did that. They 
signed up, paid their fee, went through the background check, and 
received that protection. Then came President Trump who said: That is 
the end of the program. We are not going to protect these young people 
any longer.
  Well, whatever happened to those 780,000 DACA-protected young people? 
Many of them are in school, they are in college, law school, medical 
school. Some of them joined our military. That is it. They went and 
took the oath and said: I will serve this country. I will bear 
allegiance to this country. I will give my life for this country in the 
U.S. military. Nine hundred of them are in the military today.
  DACA is going to be eliminated as of March 5 of this year by 
President Trump, which means they will be asked to leave the U.S. 
military, to stop this volunteer service to our Nation. Another 20,000 
are teachers all across this

[[Page S12]]

country. High schools, grade schools, you name it, they are teaching, 
trying to find a way to help other young people do better with their 
lives. They lose their jobs when DACA expires and their DACA protection 
expires.
  Thousands and thousands of them are doing important work, including 
as engineers, as police officers in training, as medics. These are 
people who are making this a better country, and all they have asked 
for is just a chance to be here and to be part of our future, but 
President Trump said: It is over. Now, Congress, do something about it.
  Do you know what we have done since September 5, when the President 
issued that challenge? Take a look at this empty floor. That is what we 
have done--nothing. Nothing. Despite the President's challenge, despite 
the lives of all these young people hanging in the balance, we have 
done nothing. That is why I come to the floor today. This has to come 
to an end. We have to do the right and just thing for these young 
people. We have to make those who are eligible for the Dream Act, those 
who are eligible to be part of our future--we have to give them a 
chance, and that is why I come and ask for help today.
  I can tell you we are losing about 1,000 of these young Dreamers each 
week. Their protection under DACA expires. What does it mean? It means 
that at any moment of any day, a knock on the door could mean they 
would be deported and many times other members of their family with 
them. Their lives in the United States would come to an end, and many 
of them would be deported to countries they have never ever known. They 
might have been there as infants. Perhaps it was Mexico; maybe it was 
Korea. They knew it, not personally, but only through family stories, 
and they would be sent to these countries, many times with no family, 
no connections, sometimes with no knowledge of the language that is 
spoken there.

  They believe they are Americans. I think they should have a chance to 
become Americans in the full sense of the law.
  (Mr. GARDNER assumed the Chair.)
  I have come to the floor over the years after introducing the DREAM 
Act and urged my colleagues to do something. I am not alone. The 
coalition that has come together behind this issue is interesting. Over 
75 percent of the American people think Congress--both Democrats and 
Republicans--should come together and pass the Dream Act. Over 75 
percent of Americans believe that, and 60 percent of the people who 
voted for President Trump believe that.
  We have Governors from both political parties urging us to do 
something, urgently, to help. Eleven of them, Democrats and 
Republicans, sent a letter to Congress, calling on us to pass the DACA 
legislation. Democratic Governors from Minnesota, Montana, 
Pennsylvania, and North Carolina; Republican Governors from Nevada, 
Massachusetts, Vermont, Utah; and Alaska's Independent Governor all 
asked us to do something about it.
  Poll after poll shows bipartisan support for the Dreamers. Even FOX 
News found that 79 percent of Americans support a path to citizenship 
for Dreamers. As I mentioned earlier, this support includes 63 percent 
of those voted for President Trump.
  I have told this story many times on the floor, but it doesn't have 
the impact of telling the real-life story of those who are affected by 
this conversation and would be impacted by this law.
  This is Zarna Patel. She is the 106th Dreamer whose story I have told 
on the Senate floor. When she was 3 years old, her family came to the 
United States from India. She grew up in North Carolina and in Coral 
Springs, FL. She was a brilliant student. In high school, she received 
the AP Scholar with Distinction Award from the College Board and the 
Math Scholars Award from her school's math department. She was 
president of her high school's environmental club. She started a 
recycling program at her school and led the school beautification 
project, beach cleanups, and an environmental science competition every 
year.
  She was a member of the National Honor Society, the treasurer of the 
Science National Honor Society, a member of the Spanish National Honor 
Society, and a member of the Rho Kappa History National Honor Society. 
She was some student.
  She still found time to volunteer as a tutor for disadvantaged kids 
and as a youth leader for the South Florida Hindu Temple.
  She was brought to this country as a baby. She was the only 
undocumented person in her family. She, of course, didn't know it when 
she was brought here at age 3. But she didn't let her immigration 
status stop her at all.
  She began college in Florida. Keep in mind, if you are one of these 
undocumented Dreamers, you don't qualify for any Federal assistance to 
go to school. If you want to go to college, you get a job and save the 
money to pay the tuition. She did it.
  In Florida, she was on the dean's list. She graduated cum laude from 
the university's honors program, with a bachelor of science in 
nutrition and a minor in anthropology.
  In college, she volunteered as a student leader for a community 
health clinic, helping uninsured and underserved patients. She was a 
leader of the Friends for Life pediatric cancer student group, and she 
volunteered at the pediatric ICU of Shands Hospital, spending time with 
patients there every single week.
  She volunteered with a sports program for children with physical and 
mental disabilities and was a volunteer camp counselor for a week in 
summer camp for kids with diabetes. She was a summer volunteer for a 
community-based effort to reduce healthcare disparities in her county.
  Zarna says that she threw herself into these activities to prepare 
herself for her life's dream. Her life's dream was to go to medical 
school. She knew, though, that she didn't have a chance. She was 
undocumented. She didn't have a country. She grew up here. She did all 
these things in America, but legally, she wasn't recognized in America. 
Her immigration status was going to kill her dream. Despite being 
brought here as a baby, she did the very best with her life that she 
could possibly do.
  Then, in 2012, President Barack Obama established the DACA Program. 
She heard about it and realized, miracle of miracles, she had a chance. 
She was now able to step out of the shadows, submit her name for a 
criminal background check, pay a $500 filing fee, wait in line, and 
hope that she would be allowed to stay in America, protected by DACA, 
and it worked.
  Something else happened at the same time. A university in my home 
State of Illinois, which I am very proud of--Loyola University--decided 
to do something that no other university in America would do. They 
decided to open up the competition for medical school to DACA-protected 
young people across America. They didn't give them special slots or 
quotas. No, they threw them into the pool. If you are good enough, you 
can compete with the best students in America. Guess what. These DACA 
students turned out to be some of the best students in America. They 
have 32 students at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of 
Medicine studying to be doctors today under the DACA Program, which was 
eliminated by President Trump.
  You say to yourself: It is lucky they got in under the wire. There is 
a problem. The problem is that on March 5, the DACA Program is 
eliminated by President Trump. By March 5, students like Zarna will 
lose their protection under the law, and as they lose their protection 
under the law, they are subject to deportation, which means a knock on 
the door and you can be gone.
  They will not be allowed to legally work in America. What difference 
does it make if a medical student can't legally work? Well, I have come 
to learn it makes a big difference. You see, to be a successful medical 
student and become a doctor, you need a residency. A residency is a job 
in a hospital. It is a tough job. It isn't a 9-to-5 job during the 
course of the week. It is many hours of hard work. You don't get paid a 
lot of money, but you learn what it means to be a doctor and to treat 
people as they come into the hospital. So if you want to go to medical 
school and you want to graduate with a residency in a specialty, you 
need to be allowed to legally work in America.
  Because of President Trump's decision to eliminate DACA, Zarna Patel 
and dozens just like her cannot seek a residency out of medical school. 
That

[[Page S13]]

is the end of medical school. Despite all the success in their academic 
lives, they are stopped from going forward.
  Zarna is a second-year student. If she is given a chance, she wants 
to be a doctor. In my State, we help pay for her education.
  Here is the deal though. Zarna Patel, if you want to go to medical 
school and you don't have the money, my State of Illinois will loan you 
the money to go to medical school on one condition. You have to give us 
one year of service as a doctor, once you become a certified doctor in 
our State of Illinois, for the money we loaned to you. You can serve in 
the city of Chicago or you might serve in a rural community downstate.
  She signed up for it. She said: I will do it. I will give a year of 
my life for each year of medical school if you will give me a chance to 
be a doctor.
  Does this young woman sound like the kind of person we need in this 
country in the future? Does she sound like the kind of person who would 
be just the kind of doctor you would like to have? Well, sign me up. I 
am one of those who believes in her. I know her. I met her.
  There are 31 other students at Loyola's medical school just like her. 
Their future is hanging on what happens in this empty Senate Chamber--
whether in the next 2 weeks, the Senators from both sides of the aisle, 
Republican and Democrat, will come together and solve this problem.
  I want to thank the Presiding Officer for being a positive part of 
this conversation--and he has been. It means an awful lot to me, and it 
means a lot to her and a lot of people who are counting on us to do our 
jobs as Senators.
  We haven't worked out a perfect solution to this yet. We need to give 
and take, compromise, agree to some things I don't want to agree to--
maybe the other side does the same--but to do our work, to pass a law. 
Isn't that why we were elected--to solve these problems rather than sit 
here and give speeches about the problems?
  I want the day to come when these poor staff people breathe a sigh of 
relief and say: The Dream Act finally passed, and maybe Durbin will 
stop giving these speeches on the floor about these magnificent young 
students. I would like that day to come soon, certainly before January 
19.
  Zarna wrote me a letter. She says:

       As I got older . . . I began to understand just how 
     complicated US immigration laws were and how stacked the odds 
     were against me. Here I was, in a country that I loved, that 
     I rooted for, that I thought to be the greatest in the world, 
     while my family paid taxes for services that I would never be 
     eligible for. There I was, serving a country that did not 
     even value me as a human being, all because of a piece of 
     paper. And yet, after all that I have been through and after 
     all that this country has said about me, I still call it my 
     heart, my passion and my home.

  Close to 70 Dreamers are enrolled in our medical schools. I mentioned 
Loyola, but there are others. I thank them all for giving these young 
people a chance. If DACA goes away and isn't replaced by Congress, they 
can't become doctors. They will be deported back to their countries, in 
many situations, where they haven't lived since they were babies.
  Will we be a better country if Zarna Patel is asked to leave? Will we 
be a stronger Nation? Would Chicago, would Springfield, would Illinois 
be better? Of course not.
  The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the 
Nation's doctor shortage is going to get worse because a lot of boomers 
and others are getting older and need help. We need more doctors, and 
we need good ones--good ones like Zarna Patel promises to be.
  Both the AMA and the Association of American Medical Colleges have 
warned that ending DACA will make the physician shortage in America 
worse. They have urged Congress to do something about it.
  Here is what the American Medical Association says:

       Estimates have shown that the DACA initiative could help 
     introduce over 5,400 previously ineligible [doctors] into the 
     U.S. healthcare system in the coming decades to help address 
     [physician] shortages and ensure patient access to care. . . 
     . Removing those with DACA status will particularly create 
     care shortages for rural and other underserved areas. . . . 
     Without these physicians, the AMA is concerned that the 
     quality of care in these communities will be negatively 
     impacted.

  When we introduced the Dream Act, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican 
of South Carolina, said: ``The moment of reckoning is coming.'' It is 
coming soon and coming in a matter of days. By January 19, we have to 
do something. We have run out of time, and we have run out of excuses. 
We have run out of the opportunity to help Zarna Patel and a lot of 
people like her be a part of America's future. Now is the time to act.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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