[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3331-S3332]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I listened carefully this morning to 
Senator McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, who came to the 
floor to speak to the issue of the border crisis which we now face. I 
acknowledge, as everyone should, that we are facing an unprecedented 
number of people who are presenting themselves at our southern border 
from primarily three countries--El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
  These people who are presenting themselves, for the most part, are 
not trying to sneak across our borders; they are literally coming up 
and presenting themselves--identifying themselves--to the first person 
they find in a uniform. The reason is they want to apply for asylum in 
the United States. They want to make the argument that they have 
credible fears that might entitle them to be considered as asylees in 
this country, which is a legal classification.
  After they state that they seek that status, they are taken into our 
system. They then, ultimately, go through a hearing process, but that 
hearing process is not done quickly. In fact, it can take months and 
sometimes years before the actual hearings take place. Because we are 
seeing so many people coming--especially young children who are 
accompanied by their parents or who are even on their own--it has 
created a special challenge for our border authorities.
  I was down in El Paso just a few weeks ago. I met with the Border 
Patrol agents and the Customs and Border Protection agents, and we 
talked about the challenges they face. In my mind, there is no question 
that the numbers have overwhelmed the system to the point at which 
there are things happening down there that are absolutely unacceptable 
by American standards. I will give you an example.
  Those who present themselves at the border are processed and put into 
detention cells, but these detention cells are not large enough to 
accommodate the number of people who come to our border. In El Paso, 
there was a cell that had a plate glass window on the outside so one 
could see everyone inside. Above the door of that cell was a sign that 
read ``Capacity: 35.'' I counted the number of people in that cell on 
the day I visited. There were 150 who were jammed shoulder to shoulder 
inside the cell. About 20 of them, maybe 30, had an opportunity to sit 
on benches along the perimeter, but for the most part, they stood. They 
stood all day. They were fed their meals while they stood up, and I 
have no idea how they possibly worked out their sleeping arrangements. 
There was just no room for all of them to lie down on the floor at any 
given time, and there was one toilet in that room for 150 people. I 
learned afterward that the number in that cell increased shortly 
thereafter to 200. Next to it was a cell for women--capacity 16. Inside 
that cell, I counted 75 women, including women with nursing babies.
  We now have press reports that state, because of the desperate 
situation these detainees face, there have been attempted suicides. 
This is in the United States of America. This is a situation we need to 
address. I couldn't agree more with the Republican leader from Kentucky 
that we need humanitarian assistance quickly to provide temporary 
housing or whatever is necessary so that there will be humane treatment 
of those who have been detained at our borders until they are processed 
through our legal system.
  I might say, although the Republican leader came to the floor to 
blame the Democrats for not coming up with more money in a timely 
fashion, it was just this February when we joined, on a bipartisan 
basis, in voting for $400 million more for humanitarian assistance at 
the border. There has been no resistance from this Senator or from this 
side of the aisle when it has come to humanitarian assistance in 
addressing the issues that have been before us.
  We remember--and it was not that long ago--the Trump administration's 
policy that was called zero tolerance. Do you remember? Certainly, I 
do. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that we were then going to 
have a policy of treating as criminals those who came across the 
border.

  Now, understand what I mentioned earlier. You present yourself at our 
border for the purpose of seeking asylee status so that you will not be 
considered a criminal when you present yourself, which is perfectly 
within our legal system. Rather, Jeff Sessions said, if you come to our 
border and do not have legal status in the United States, you shall be 
treated as a criminal. In his having said that, there was a problem. It 
meant that they separated the children from their parents because, 
under Sessions' zero-tolerance policy, the parents were presumed to 
have been engaged in criminal conduct.
  The result was awful. There were 2,880 infants, toddlers, and 
children who were separated from their parents at the border under the 
zero-tolerance policy. Yet there was a swift public reaction against 
it, and court cases were filed to stop this policy. In one of the few 
times since he was elected President, this President came forward and 
said he was wrong--that this policy was not good and that he was going 
to end it.
  The problem was, in his having separated those children, our 
government has not kept track of where their parents have gone and how 
we might possibly reunite them in the future. It took a Federal judge 
in Southern California to come forward and mandate that our agencies of 
government find those children and reunite them with their parents.
  We didn't accomplish it completely. Overwhelmingly, it took weeks and 
months for us to put them together because no one thought to keep track 
of where the parents were headed and where their children were headed. 
Eventually, we put it together for all but, say, 100, I think--the 
final number of children for whom we just couldn't find their families 
and parents.
  That was a horrible situation, but it is a reminder to us today as we 
reflect on what is going on at the border. For goodness' sake, we 
should all demand the humane treatment of people at our border, 
particularly of the children. Six children who came to our border died 
while they sought this asylum status. That is unacceptable.
  In fairness to the Department of Homeland Security and to all of 
those involved in it, I don't believe for a second that they 
consciously allowed this to happen, but we did not provide the kind of 
medical assistance that might have ordinarily been provided in these 
circumstances. We are told that this is changing for the better, and I 
salute and applaud the efforts to reach that.
  When it comes to the humanitarian assistance that Senator McConnell

[[Page S3332]]

spoke about on the floor this morning, I could not agree with him more. 
We need to put the resources in place. There are serious differences of 
opinion about the policy at the border--of the so-called Flores consent 
decree and the TVPRA legislation. There is also no common agreement 
between the parties in the House and Senate on that policy's language. 
I am not sure we will reach an agreement when it comes to some 
fundamental questions about how long you can hold a child in detention, 
for example. In the Flores decision--and this was a consent decree 
entered into by our government--we say that you can't detain a child 
for more than 20 days. The proposal now is 100 days.
  Let me ask an obvious question. As a father and as a grandfather, 
what impact does it have in one's holding a child in detention for 100 
days? Imagine, if you will, all of the possible circumstances of these 
kids in their having come to the border, what they have been through to 
reach this point, and what we then do in response. I think we need to 
be very sensitive to the reality that children are often harmed in ways 
we can't even imagine by things that happen so early in their lives. 
The notion of a longer detention needs to be carefully scrutinized to 
make sure we are never doing anything at the expense of these children 
and their long-term development.
  I wanted to raise another issue too. While I agree with Senator 
McConnell when it comes to the humanitarian treatment of children and 
young people and others, too, at the same time, we are in a 
circumstance now where the President of the United States, in September 
of 2017, eliminated a program called the DACA Program.
  I know a little bit about this because 18 years ago I introduced a 
bill called the DREAM Act, and the DREAM Act said that if you were 
brought to the United States as a child, where you didn't have any 
conscious part of the decision to come to this country, and you grew up 
in this country, went to school, did not have a criminal record, and 
went through a basic background test, then, you ought to be able to be 
allowed to stay in the United States and ultimately achieve legal 
status. That is the DREAM Act. We haven't passed it or enacted it into 
law, though I have tried many, many times. But we did prevail on 
President Obama to create the DACA Program so that these young people 
can step forward, pay a fee, go through a background check, be finger-
printed, make certain that they were no threat to the United States, 
and be allowed to stay in this country for 2 years at a time without 
fear of deportation and be allowed to work.
  Ultimately, 790,000 of these young people came forward. I have told 
their stories on the floor of the Senate many, many times. They are 
incredible young people who simply want a chance to be a part of the 
country--the only country they have ever known.
  President Trump decided to abolish the DACA Program, leaving these 
190,000 people in a precarious situation in terms of their legal rights 
and their future.
  Fortunately for them, the Federal Court stepped in and said that the 
President needed to justify eliminating this program. While we are 
going through the argument in court, they will be protected--790,000 
will be protected. No new ones have been allowed to sign up.
  I see that my friend from New York is here, and I just wish, if I 
can, to make a statement about one of these Dreamers and then yield the 
floor to him. I am certain that he has some important things to say.
  But I would like to, if I can--he helps me with my signs when he 
comes to the floor. I thank Senator Schumer.
  I produced on the floor more than 100 of these colored photographs of 
these Dreamers to tell their story. This is Pratishtha Khanna, the 
117th Dreamer I have spoken about on the floor of the Senate. She was 
brought to the United States from India at the age of 10, and she grew 
up in Laurel, MD. Her parents were university graduates with 
professional degrees. They both worked long hours in blue collar jobs 
for less than minimum wage with no time off.
  Pratishtha said:

       My parents believed in the hallmarks of American values: 
     Work hard and you can achieve anything. They encouraged me to 
     study hard and be the best I can be.

  This is exactly what this young lady did. She was an excellent 
student who was placed in the gifted and talented program, and she was 
a peer mentor who tutored fellow students in math. In high school, 
Pratishtha earned college credits in an advanced placement class, was a 
member of the color guard, and served as treasurer and vice president 
of the student government association.
  In 2009 she graduated from high school with honors. She attended her 
local community college. Because of her undocumented immigration 
status, she was not eligible for financial aid and had to pay 
international student tuition. She cleaned homes and tutored high 
school students to help pay the tuition. She volunteered at a local 
infectious disease laboratory. She graduated with an associate's degree 
in biology.
  Then, on June 15, 2012, President Obama announced DACA, the program I 
mentioned earlier, which was abolished by President Trump.
  Pratishtha says:

       [It was] a monumental day for my family. For the first time 
     in many years, my family sat together to eat dinner. I saw 
     tears stream down my father's face. He talked about 
     everything my brother and I could achieve with the basic 
     scraps of dignity given us by DACA. The stress and despair in 
     his eyes was replaced with energy and hope.

  In May 2014 Pratishtha graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree 
in biological sciences from the University of Maryland, Baltimore 
County. Following graduation, she worked as a scribe in the emergency 
department at Baltimore Washington Hospital Center. She kept studying, 
obtaining a nursing assistant and patient care technician 
certification. She then obtained a position at the medical intensive 
care unit at Johns Hopkins, while she continued working in the 
emergency department at Baltimore Washington Medical Center.
  Her father passed away in November of 2015, just a few years after 
she was given DACA status. Through long night shifts in the ICU and the 
5 a.m. shifts in the emergency department, Pratishtha had become the 
family's breadwinner.
  She is now studying for a master of science in biomedical science at 
Western University of Health Sciences, in Pomona, CA. Her dream is to 
become a doctor.
  She wrote me a letter, and she said:

       America is my home. My father's ashes will lay to rest 
     here. I don't have another home. As assaults on immigrants 
     and democracy run rampant, the world looks to Congress for 
     leadership and justice.

  The eyes of Pratishtha and hundreds of thousands of Dreamers are on 
Washington and on the U.S. Senate. Last week the House of 
Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act in an effort 
to save Pratishtha and the hundreds of thousands of others like her. We 
want you to be a part of America's future. You are an extraordinary 
person. Her life and what she has already given are an indication of 
why we need her in America's future. The fact that the Republican 
leader would come to the floor and speak about the humanitarian 
treatment of young children and overlook the fact that we have a bill 
that has been sent to us by the House of Representatives, which would 
help 790,000 and more with the American Dream and Promise Act, tells me 
that he is not closing in the loop on humanitarianism.
  I call on the Republican leader in the Senate: Do not make this a 
legislative graveyard. Let's use the power of this Senate to pass the 
legislation that passed the House of Representatives and give this 
young woman and thousands more just like her an opportunity to be a 
part of America's future.
  I yield the floor.