[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2870-S2871]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1615

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as in legislation session, I ask unanimous 
consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further 
consideration of S. 1615; that the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration; that the bill be considered read a third time and 
passed, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon 
the table with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this is an 
issue on which Congress needs to act. Congress does, in fact, have 
authority to pass laws governing immigration and naturalization within 
our system, but this particular unanimous consent request represents an 
attempt to pass a major piece of legislation without any opportunity 
for debate, any opportunity for input from the American people, or any 
opportunity for amendments by individual Members. If we pass it this 
way, we will be cutting the American people out of the debate.
  Moreover, we also need to address the draws for illegal immigration. 
If we are going to address the needs of those who have been brought 
here unlawfully by no fault of their own while they were infants or 
minors, we need to make sure that we are not going to continue to draw 
people in unlawfully and that we are not going to continue to have 
people in various parts of the world sending their children here 
unlawfully, unaccompanied on many occasions and being subjected to 
sexual assault and all other kinds of abuse in the process. We do need 
to fix the underlying problem.
  For that reason, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am just going to respond briefly.
  The bill that I asked to be called today for a vote was debated at 
length over a period of 17 years with numerous committee meetings. This 
is not an open-ended bill. There is a deadline. To qualify for it, one 
must have been in

[[Page S2871]]

the United States already for over a year. So it would not be a magnet 
for those who would like to come and take advantage of it in the 
future. It wouldn't apply to them, but it does apply to 1.8 million who 
would be eligible for citizenship.
  I am sorry that there was an objection, but I will continue to work 
with Members on both sides of the aisle to resolve this. We owe it to 
Dalia and to many others like her who are waiting for Congress to act.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lee). The Senator from North Carolina.