[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 67 (Wednesday, April 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2410-S2412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  DACA

  Mr. President, on September 5, the Trump administration announced its 
repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as 
DACA. As a result, hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the 
United States as children, toddlers, and infants--known as Dreamers--
face losing their right to stay here without being subject to 
deportation and the right to legally work in America.
  DACA provides temporary legal status for Dreamers if they register 
with the government, pay a substantial fee, go through a criminal 
background check, and return every 2 years for renewal. It has been a 
great success. More than 800,000 Dreamers have come forward and 
received DACA protection.
  When President Trump repealed DACA 7 months ago, he set an arbitrary 
March 5 deadline of this year for Congress to act and replace it. We 
tried. We offered to this President six different bipartisan 
alternatives to continue the DACA Program. He rejected every single one 
of them. He sent to Congress his own plan for dealing with immigration. 
It received 39 votes in the U.S. Senate--39. Remember, there is a 
Republican majority of 51. The President struggled to get his own party 
to support his ideas on immigration.
  Luckily, a Federal court stepped in and issued an order blocking 
President Trump's repeal of DACA. This means those Dreamers who have 
DACA can continue to apply for renewed status. I certainly urge every 
DACA recipient to file for renewal as quickly as possible. There was a 
ruling yesterday, as well, in one of the DC district courts which also 
said that perhaps the President's actions on DACA can be questioned, 
and he gave the government 90 days to produce evidence of what 
authority the President used to reach that conclusion.
  The Trump administration is doing everything in its power to fight 
this injunction, and it could be lifted any day. We don't know when the 
courts will turn and make a decision. This means there is still an 
urgent need for Congress to act to overcome the decision of the 
President of the United States of last September 5.
  Last week, the Department of Homeland Security released updated 
statistics on DACA. It shows, as of March 31, more than 32,000 DACA 
renewal applications are pending. Of these pending renewal 
applications, more than 9,000 were from recipients whose DACA 
protection had already expired, and tens of thousands more Dreamers 
have DACA protection due to expire very soon.
  The President has created chaos, not just in the White House but 
clearly at the Department of Homeland Security as they try to respond 
to his decisions. Secretary Nielsen of DHS has promised me and has said 
publicly that she will not be party to deporting any DACA recipient 
with a pending DACA application, even if their DACA status has expired. 
We will hold her to that commitment.
  However, for DACA recipients whose status has expired, they are not 
going to be given any work permits while their renewal applications are 
being considered. It means tens of thousands of DACA-eligible 
individuals could be forced to leave the jobs they have--such as 
teachers in our schools or even in our military--because of the chaos 
that has been created by President Trump's decision.
  Consider the fate of Dreamers who are eligible for DACA but have 
never quite reached that status. Until this decision is made in the 
court hearing in the District of Columbia, they can no longer apply for 
DACA protection because of President Trump's decision to prohibit new 
applications after September 5 of last year.
  The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimates that--in 
addition to 800,000 DACA recipients--there are an additional 1 million 
Dreamers who are eligible for DACA. President Trump's cruel decision to 
end DACA means that some 1 million DACA-eligible people cannot even 
apply.
  On September 5, President Trump called on Congress to legalize DACA. 
As I mentioned, he has refused to accept six different bipartisan 
approaches that would. He even rejected one approach that offered $25 
billion for his infamous wall on the Mexican border. Instead, the 
President has tried to put the entire hard-line immigration agenda on 
the backs of DACA recipients.

  It is not working, for 85 percent of the American people are on the 
side of these young people who were brought to the United States as 
kids, children, infants who grew up in this country, pledging 
allegiance to that flag, and wanting to be part of our future. There 
are 85 percent of Americans, including many Trump voters, who believe 
that is the right and fair thing to do, but a handful of hard-liners in 
this administration are determined to exact a punishment on these young 
people and their parents. That is why we find ourselves in this 
situation today.
  I have come to the floor more than 100 times to tell the individual 
stories of these Dreamers. I do that today as well.
  This is Karina Macias. She is the 114th Dreamer whose story I have 
told on the floor.
  At the age of 3, her family brought her to the United States from 
Mexico. She grew up in East Palo Alto in Northern California. She loved 
to read and spend her afterschool time and summers at the local Boys & 
Girls Club. Karina was an excellent student, and she received numerous 
awards in high school, including the Mount Holyoke Book Award, the AP 
Scholar Award, and a Rotary Club Academic Achievement Award. She was 
the coeditor of her yearbook and copresident of the Community Service 
Club. She volunteered as a tutor and worked as a volunteer in food 
distribution centers. She attended Saint Mary's College of California, 
where she continued to excel academically and to receive many awards. 
In May 2016, she was awarded a bachelor's degree in communications.

[[Page S2411]]

  She works today as a project manager at a biotechnology firm. She 
volunteers with the Peninsula College Fund, where she organizes career 
development and college success workshops. She tutors elementary 
students and mentors middle school youth who compete in local science 
competitions.
  What is her dream for the future? She wants to pursue an advanced 
degree so she can become a biotechnology researcher.
  Here is what she wrote in a letter to me:

       DACA is my hope for a future in which, with hard work and 
     perseverance, I can achieve any dream imaginable. It's my 
     protection from being ripped away from the only place I've 
     known as home. It's the promise to my baby brothers--both 
     U.S. Citizens--that I'll be around to watch them mature into 
     exceptional young men. It's the ticket that allows me to be a 
     contributing member of society. I credit my success to the 
     endless support I have received from so many sources. I want 
     to give back so my fellow Americans have the opportunities to 
     achieve their dreams.

  What a tragedy it would be to deport this young woman. Why would 
America do that? What sin has she committed? What crime is she guilty 
of? Who will feel so good to see her leave America? It will certainly 
not be the many people whom she currently works with and serves in her 
community.
  That is what we face because of President Trump's decision to end 
DACA. That is what hundreds of thousands of young people face every 
single day, who are just like Karina, because of this President's 
personal, unilateral decision. President Trump created the DACA crisis 
we face today.
  Instead of working toward a solution, a few hard-liners around him 
have sabotaged every effort to help the Dreamers. In fact, the 
President quickly adds: Don't use the word ``Dreamer.'' He doesn't like 
that word. It is why I have used it so often today. I introduced that 
DREAM Act 17 years ago, and I am glad it has become common parlance in 
America when referring to the plight of these young people.
  Congress needs to do its job; most importantly, the President needs 
to do his. If he truly wants to lead this Nation and bring us together, 
if he wants to stand for fairness and justice and the opportunity for 
young people to make America better, then this President has to step up 
and admit that the problem he created on September 5 of last year can 
only be solved if he stands up and shows the courage and determination 
to find a solution.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, earlier today, we heard the French 
President address a joint meeting of Congress. He reminded us that the 
French and American people have always fought side by side to defend 
our common values. France was our original ally during the American 
Revolution.
  Americans fought and died in France during World War I and World War 
II. Our alliance has spanned centuries because of diplomats who have 
cultivated the close relationship that the countries continue with 
today, and it is a shame we didn't have a Secretary of State of the 
United States who could have helped us welcome the French President 
during his visit here. We have a nominee who is eminently qualified--
Mike Pompeo--and Republicans are ready to confirm him right now. We 
were ready to confirm him last week. We are ready for him to get to 
work in maintaining and strengthening relationships around the world.
  Under previous administrations, we could have brought the nomination 
to the floor of the Senate without needing to waste all of the time and 
the delays, by the Democrats, on a cloture vote. That is how we used to 
treat important national security positions like the Secretary of State 
but no more, apparently. That is what happened even when Senators 
disagreed with the administration's foreign policies.
  Consider Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State 
John Kerry. The Republicans and Democrats agreed that the President 
deserved to have the team he wanted--the people he wanted--on the 
ground helping him. We all agreed some of these positions were very 
important to national security--so important that, in a bipartisan way, 
we felt that playing political games with them was just wrong. 
Apparently, that has changed in the eyes of the Democrats now that 
Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States.
  When Barack Obama became President in 2009, the Republicans didn't 
obstruct his nomination of Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. 
No. She was confirmed by a vote of 94 to 2. Then, when President Obama 
nominated John Kerry for the job in 2013, the Republicans didn't slow 
down or block that choice either. He was confirmed by a vote of 94 to 
3. The Republicans had serious concerns about President Obama's foreign 
policy ideas, his strategies, his approach, but we confirmed the people 
whom he wanted as his Secretary of State. We did not obstruct these 
nominations, and we didn't try to tarnish the reputations of the people 
whom he picked for these important jobs, not at all.
  I think the Senate does have an obligation to carefully evaluate a 
President's nominees. When those nominees are qualified and capable, 
then the President has every right to have his team and have his team 
in place quickly. That was the standard the Republicans applied to 
these Democratic nominees for Secretary of State under a Democratic 
President.
  What has happened since then? Why has all of this changed since then?
  We now have a Republican President, and we have a Republican nominee 
to be Secretary of State. It seems the Senate Democrats have tossed out 
the way things have always been done before. ``No, we do not want to do 
it that way anymore.'' The only interest seems to be obstruction--
obstructing, delaying, resisting anything the Republicans, under 
President Trump, are trying to do, anything he is trying to do in terms 
of getting his team in place--a team he needs.
  How does someone justify a vote for these two people to be Secretary 
of State--the Democrats and Republicans who voted for these two--and 
then turn around and not vote for Mike Pompeo? How can you justify 
that? I certainly cannot.
  When Mike Pompeo was nominated to be the Director of the Central 
Intelligence Agency, 15 Senators from the other side of the aisle were 
willing to set aside partisanship. They knew he was qualified for the 
job--first in his class at West Point, the Harvard Law Review, his 
activities as a Member of Congress. Everything he has done as the CIA 
Director has shown that those 15 Senators made the right call to 
support him over a year ago. They made the right call to join the 
Republicans and to respect the traditions of the Senate--to put 
qualified people on the job even if they may not have agreed completely 
with their philosophies on political issues.
  There is no reason other than pure partisan politics that any of 
these Democrats would vote against Mike Pompeo now. He is eminently 
qualified. He showed during his confirmation hearing--he went through 5 
hours of questioning--that he has the intelligence, he has the 
integrity, and he has the experience to serve as our Nation's Secretary 
of State.
  Turn to the newspapers. You have the Washington Post coming out, 
writing: ``Confirm Mike Pompeo.'' You have USA TODAY coming out today 
and writing: ``Confirm Mike Pompeo.'' We even have the New York Daily 
News--the hometown newspaper of the leader of the Democratic Senate--
coming out and writing: ``Confirm Mike Pompeo.''
  The Democrats in the Senate don't seem to care. It doesn't seem like 
they are interested in doing the right thing. They are interested in 
obstructing and continuing the history of the deliberate delays we have 
seen with them through this administration. They have been doing it 
since the very first day of the Trump administration. At this rate, it 
would take more than 9 years to confirm all of President Trump's 
nominees for important jobs. Why? The Democrats can't offer a single 
good reason. The Senate has been forced to waste huge amounts of time 
in confirming nominees who aren't even controversial at all.
  When Senate Democrats try to block the President from filling 
important national security jobs, they are putting America's security 
in danger. We all know the world is a dangerous place and is getting 
more dangerous every day. Our adversaries are opportunistic. Our 
adversaries are aggressive. Our allies are eager to work with the 
United

[[Page S2412]]

States. That is what the President of France told us today.
  Have the Democrats already forgotten the atrocities we saw in Syria a 
few weeks ago? It was France and Great Britain that joined the 
President of the United States in launching airstrikes against Bashar 
Al-Assad's chemical weapons facilities.
  We need to be able to maintain the relationships that allow this kind 
of action to occur. We need people on the job who can both encourage 
our allies and deter our enemies. The Senate Democrats have to decide 
what is more important to them--protecting America's national security 
or appeasing the extreme liberal, far leftwing of their party.
  I understand if there are Senators who have principled reasons for 
objecting to this nominee or any nominee. They can vote no but not 
continue to hold up or slow down the process as they have done for a 
year and a half. I think, if a Senator is against a nominee, then come 
to the floor; state the objection; cite the evidence; vote no. Yet that 
is not what many Democrats here are doing with their obstruction of one 
nominee after another, and it is not what they have done with their 
obstructions of hundreds of nominees. For them, it doesn't seem, at 
least to me, to be a principled stand. It seems to be a reckless 
political stunt.
  I listened to my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee the 
other evening when we voted on this nomination. I listened to the 
Democrats speak on the floor and speak to the press. Frankly, I have 
not heard a single good reason to delay the Senate's consideration of 
Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State. The Democrats need to stop the 
games, stop the delays, allow us to move immediately to vote on his 
nomination, and get President Trump's Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, 
on the job.
  Thank you.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.