[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 198 (Tuesday, December 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7808-S7812]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              IMMIGRATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues, Senator 
Sinema and Senator Tillis, for their statements earlier on the floor on 
the issue of immigration. A number of us are coming to the floor to 
discuss it today.
  It is a sad day--sad because there are many people who are counting 
on this Congress to do something, who understood that we have an 
immigration system that is terribly broken and we are paying a heavy 
price for it, and there are many who are watching this proceeding today 
who are paying an even heavier price.
  If we do nothing to help those who are protected by DACA, if we do 
nothing to help the Dreamers, court decisions may preempt us and may 
force some of these people to face the reality that they can no longer 
legally work in America and they are subject to deportation.
  Many of these young people--and I will tell the story of one in just 
a moment--have spent their whole lives here in the United States. They 
have gone to our schools. They go to our churches. We see them at the 
high school football games. They work in the Dairy Queens. They are all 
over America because they are part of America--at least they think they 
are, but they are not. They are undocumented. Their parents brought 
them to this country when they were infants and toddlers and little 
kids. They grew up in this Nation thinking they were part of it, and 
then there was a day of awakening when the parents sat down and said: 
We have to tell you the truth. You are not here legally.
  These are the Dreamers, people I have been trying to help for over 20 
years. It is over 20 years since I first introduced the DREAM Act. I 
wanted to help them. I thought perhaps we could get something done. We 
haven't been able to. Unfortunately, today, it looks very, very 
unlikely that we will.
  I hear in the comments from the Senator from Arizona and the Senator 
from North Carolina the bottom-line truth: Any reasonable, factual 
discussion or debate on immigration has to not only deal with the 
Dreamers and those who are here on undocumented status but also has to 
deal with what is going on at our southern border. The Senator from 
Arizona is correct. It is a humanitarian and security nightmare that is 
only getting worse. We are being flooded at the border by people who 
want to be safely in the United States.
  I had an opportunity to meet some of those migrants who were bused to 
Chicago a few weeks ago and sit down across the table from them and 
hear their stories. I tell you, I recommend that to all who are 
interested in this issue. Hear the real stories of desperation and 
danger they faced in the countries they came from, and realize that 
their sentiments to be part of America, protected in America, have an 
opportunity in America, are the same sentiments that brought my 
grandmother to this country with my 2-year-old mother and her sister 
and brother.
  I recall the stories. These are not people setting out to cheat some 
political system; these are people fighting for survival--Carlos, with 
his 4-year-

[[Page S7809]]

old daughter and his nursing infant and his wife, who spent 4 months in 
a journey from Venezuela to our border. In addition to that, there is 
an individual named Maria who is a college-educated individual in 
Caracas who left because of fear for her life. She came to the United 
States. During her trek to this country, she went through violent 
personal assault in Mexico. She broke down in front of us when she told 
us the story. These are real people, real human beings.
  One of the bottom-line principles that should guide us--I think there 
are at least three, maybe more, but the ones that come to my mind are 
these:
  We have to have an orderly process at our border. There has to be 
some system that monitors the number of people coming in and the 
circumstances that bring them here. That is No. 1.
  No. 2, we should never knowingly allow anyone dangerous to come into 
this country. That is unequivocal. I hope everyone agrees on that.
  Third, and this is the hardest part, we cannot accept at any given 
moment all of the people who want to come to America at that moment. We 
have to have an orderly, timely process that makes sense for America, 
that makes sense for our reputation as a humane nation and moves us 
forward along the right track.
  I think of these Dreamers because I come to this floor so many 
times--five different times I have called up the DREAM Act for passage. 
Five different times I got a majority vote on the floor, but in the 
Senate, as most people know, it takes 60 out of 100, and I couldn't get 
the 60-vote margin five different times.
  Years ago, 10 years ago, we had a Saturday morning vote. This Gallery 
was filled with these young people. They were wearing caps and gowns to 
tell the story that they want to be graduates of schools--high schools 
and colleges--and be part of America's future. When we lost that vote 
and didn't get our 60 votes, I joined with them at a church nearby, a 
Lutheran church, and there were a lot of tears being shed at that 
moment from me and from all the others.
  I said to them at the time: I am not going to give up on you. Don't 
give up on me. We can do this.
  That has driven me ever since. I reached out in every direction that 
I can think of to try to find allies in this conversation who will sit 
down on a bipartisan basis and fix this broken immigration system.
  I want to thank the Senator from Arizona for taking the initiative on 
this issue along with Senator Tillis. I believe that their proposal, 
while I don't agree with it all, is the right starting point for the 
conversation and debate on a bipartisan basis. The real starting point 
has to be the true stories of the people who are going to be affected 
by this.
  Let me tell you one, as I have before. This is the 132nd time I have 
taken to the floor of the Senate to tell the story of a Dreamer.
  This young man's name is Jose Flores Valor. Jose arrived in this 
country from Mexico when he was only 11 months old. He grew up in my 
home State of Illinois, in DeKalb, IL.
  At a young age, he served as the interpreter for his family at their 
medical appointments. It was through these experiences, watching the 
doctors care for and provide support for his family, that his passion 
for healthcare bloomed. In high school, Jose enrolled in a certified 
nursing assistant course, and his goal was to eventually become a 
doctor.
  It was not until he was 16 and his classmates were getting driver's 
licenses and making their decisions about colleges that Jose realized 
he was undocumented. Even though he was accepted into the University of 
Illinois in Chicago, his legal status meant he did not qualify for any 
Federal Government assistance or scholarships, and he could not afford 
to stay beyond the first semester. He didn't let that obstacle stop 
him. Jose sought other avenues for pursuing a career in healthcare and 
recently earned an associate of science degree from Kishwaukee College 
in Illinois.
  On top of a busy academic schedule, Jose worked with a travel nursing 
agency as a certified nursing assistant. In this role, he traveled to 
six different States, working in rehab centers, nursing homes, and 
hospitals and provided care to our most vulnerable citizens.
  When the pandemic hit, Jose was deployed across the country to meet 
urgent healthcare needs. His work took him far from home, which meant 
he was unable to be by his grandfather's side when his grandfather 
passed away from COVID. It was one of the many sacrifices Jose made to 
pursue his passion serving our Nation.
  Today, Jose has earned a full scholarship at Loyola University in 
Chicago to complete his premedical studies and obtain a bachelor's 
degree.
  Let me take a moment to say a kind word about Loyola University in 
Chicago. There are many great higher education institutions in my State 
and in our Nation, but they have gone out of their way to really show 
that they care for people like Jose. It was their Stritch College of 
Medicine which opened competition for the first time to DACA students 
all over the United States. They didn't give them a quota or say there 
was a certain number to be accepted but said: You can compete with 
everybody else for admission.
  For many of these DACA students in Illinois and outside, it was the 
first chance they ever had to apply to a medical school. As a result, 
more than 25 students were accepted by Loyola Stritch College of 
Medicine, and here, they have accepted, with full scholarship, Jose 
Valor to complete his premed studies on the way to a bachelor's degree.
  He wants to attend medical school and begin his journey towards being 
a doctor. He plans one day to open a clinic to help the uninsured and 
low-income people. He considered DACA his ``opportunity to become a 
contributing member of society.''
  A simple question: Is America better or worse for having Jose living 
among us? Would we be better off if we just deported him back to 
Mexico? He came here before he was 1 year old. He didn't know a thing 
about the journey or where his parents were taking him. He has done 
everything right since--volunteering to help with healthcare, risking 
his own life during the COVID-19 crisis to help other people, doing the 
hard work that many people would turn away from, and now trying to 
finish college with a premed degree so that he can become a medical 
professional in America.
  Do we need him? I need him in Chicago. I can think of places around 
our State where we are waiting for people with nursing backgrounds and 
medical backgrounds to step up and to treat American people.
  One of the hospitals in Chicago came to see me last week. It 
struggles. It is in a tough neighborhood. The administrator of the 
hospital said to me: We almost closed down one of our departments, but 
luckily--luckily--we were able to bring in 30 Filipino nurses to 
augment our staff to keep that department open. Thirty immigrant 
Filipino nurses are keeping a department open in a major hospital in 
the city of Chicago. That story is repeated everywhere.
  For people saying that we need no more immigrants, that we just don't 
need them, they are wrong. We need Jose. We need those nurses. We need 
people who will make this a better nation.
  We have to do our work here. We have to deal not only with their 
situation, the undocumented situation, but also with border security. 
The Senator from Arizona was correct. It is a humanitarian and security 
challenge, and now it may have to wait for another day. We can't finish 
it this week. But when we do return to it, let's do it with an open 
mind and an open heart. Let's understand that we can make this a better 
and safer nation, a nation of immigrants who make us a better place, 
and we can have order at the border as well. That is the only thing 
that gives us any chance to thrive as an American nation into the 
future.
  I look forward to working with the Senators. I thank them for their 
initiative and will do all I can to help them.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Sinema). The Senator from Missouri.
  Mr. BLUNT. Madam President, I won't be able to work with you and 
others on this in the next Congress. I am coming to the end of my 26 
years here. In a couple more weeks, I will move on to whatever is the 
next chapter, and I am excited about that. But I am frustrated that we 
haven't been able to do a better job with this issue.

[[Page S7810]]

  First of all, let me say I heard maybe not all hundred-and-thirty-
some of those speeches that Senator Durbin has given, but I have heard 
a lot of them. Like him, I fully am supportive of the kids who grew up 
here being able to stay here. We should want them to stay here. We 
should eagerly be looking for ways to be sure they stay here.
  One demographics matter, a younger society is a more healthy society 
in lots of ways, but also just the fairness of--asking somebody not to 
live where they grew up or even, more importantly, asking them to go 
back and try to live somewhere where they never lived before is a 
critical thing that we should easily be able to get beyond.
  I actually thought the plan that Senator Sinema and Senator Tillis 
had put together had a lot of appeal because it didn't try to do 
everything; it tried to do just enough things that were doable and get 
them done together.
  I have always thought, in 20-plus years of looking at this same 
challenge, that the comprehensive solution is unlikely to be the best 
solution we could achieve.
  I was the whip in the House when I was in the House. It takes 218 
people to get something done in the House. And when you look at the 
challenges before us, how do you secure the border? What are the 
legitimate workforce needs of the country? What do you do about people 
who came or stayed outside the law? What do you do about people seeking 
asylum? The same 218 House Members that may be the best 218 House 
Members or the same 60 Senators that may be the best 60 Senators to 
deal with the issue of ``how do you secure the border'' probably aren't 
the best 60 Senators to figure out what we do about the legitimate 
workforce needs of the country. And neither of them may be the best 60 
Senators to figure out what we do about people who came or stayed 
without documents. It is about half and half, I think. Or none of them 
may be the best 60 Senators to figure out what is the very best way we 
can wrap our arms around people who grew up here and let them know for 
sure that we need them here, we want them here, and find that quick 
solution.
  I, frankly, think the Dreamer problem is and should be the easiest 
problem of all of these problems to solve, because the alternative to 
solving that problem makes so little sense. It makes so little sense in 
a personal way. It makes so little sense in an economic way. It makes 
so little sense for our communities.
  Whether they are sitting here in caps or gowns or everyday doing hard 
things in America in adding to their educational capacity, again, we 
should want that to happen.
  The asylum system, clearly, is broken. It just can't work that you 
can walk up to the border in the United States of America and say: I 
come seeking asylum; I come with fear for my life, or whatever. Living 
in a poor, dangerous country is not the criteria for asylum. In fact, 
that is why when people do go to the court to have their case heard, 
about 1 out of 10 times do they qualify.
  Now, if somebody has told them before they got here that they would 
qualify or that the system just works in a way that, if you get here 
and get into the country, we are so far behind that you get to stay and 
who knows what might happen that allows you to stay longer than you 
think you might be able to stay.
  The border--securing the border--is definitely a definition of one of 
the responsibilities of the country. If you can't secure your own 
border--no matter what country you are talking about--you really don't 
meet one of the entry-level definitions of a country. It is just 
incredibly basic, and we are not doing that.
  Frankly, under the last administration, I think we were doing a lot 
of things right when it came to securing the border: a barrier where 
you needed a barrier, other things where you needed other things to 
monitor what was happening, being sure that people understood the 
likelihood that they would be able to make an asylum claim in court. 
All those things mattered and did matter--trying to be sure that people 
had the information they needed, and even a third safe country.
  If your goal is to try to get to a safe country, that should be your 
goal. If your goal is trying to get to a country with a better economic 
opportunity, probably, it should be trying to come to the United States 
of America. But as Senator Durbin said--and, I suspect, every Senator, 
when asked about this will say--everybody can't come here who lives in 
a country that is less safe or less economically successful than ours. 
It just can't happen. It is not possible. We can't have a border that 
allows everybody who has that desire and can get to the border to 
permanently be in the country.
  But I thought the bill that I was very interested in, that we just 
ran out of time to get to, that looked at the asylum system, that was 
gaining strong support from the border guards and immigration officials 
who came to see me and others and said: Here is what we need; here is 
where the bill is perfect; here is where it could be made a little bit 
better, and if this happens, we are going to be unanimously for it--I 
thought that was the good approach. It didn't try to do everything, but 
it tried to do enough things that people could feel like we were making 
progress, building around what should be the easiest thing--the 
Dreamers--moving on to get border patrol and others who work with 
people at the border back into their real job, rather than the job of 
detaining people who really aren't here for the reason they say they 
are here, who know or will soon find out that they won't have an asylum 
claim. That is just not working. It is not working that, no matter what 
anybody says, the border is clearly not under control.
  It is hard to solve these other problems with a border that is not 
under control, but I thought the idea that we would move toward that 
control and have some sign-offs before we move further was really one 
of the good things in the bill that I was looking forward to seeing 
presented and debated.
  It is time we had bills debated on the floor. It is time we shared 
more information and more thoughts. It is time we found the right 
number of Senators to solve these problems in the best way, rather 
than, frankly, not being able to find 60 Senators that have ever been 
able to come up with a comprehensive solution that will also pass the 
Congress.
  I hope we can continue to pursue the right thing for our country, the 
right thing for Dreamers, the right thing for our economy and the 
workforce, the right thing for people who meet the skill needs of our 
economy, to come here and find jobs that are at the level of jobs that 
they are prepared for. We need to move forward.
  Thanks to Senator Sinema and Senator Tillis for their efforts in 
this. I look forward to watching as, hopefully, we continue to move 
more dramatically toward the right goal for America and the right goal 
for people who want to be Americans.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KELLY. Madam President, I join my colleagues to discuss the 
importance of tackling the issues on the border and with our 
immigration system.
  I think what folks have heard so far is that Republicans and 
Democrats can find a lot of common ground, even on this topic, and I am 
here today because securing our border and fixing our broken 
immigration system is a priority for me and for the State of Arizona.
  The State of Arizona bears the brunt of Washington's failure on this 
issue, and this is a national security issue. For decades now, 
politicians have tried and failed to fix our border and fix our 
immigration system. We see crisis after crisis under administrations of 
both parties, and we see attempts by Congress to pass reforms fizzle 
out over and over and over again, because on this issue, more than any 
other, folks often retreat to partisan corners rather than finding 
common ground that we know exists.
  It is what led the Federal Government to fail border States like 
Arizona for decades when it comes to border security, and it has led to 
a broken immigration system that doesn't work for families. It doesn't 
work for Dreamers. It doesn't work for businesses, small and large, and 
it doesn't work for our country.
  In Arizona, these aren't abstract issues. These aren't theoretical 
questions to debate over. These are real problems, and Arizonans 
deserve real

[[Page S7811]]

solutions. Our State is left to deal with crisis after crisis at the 
border, including the one we are facing right now, where record numbers 
of border crossings are straining law enforcement, and it is straining 
humanitarian organizations.
  This is unsustainable, and a change to title 42 authority now is only 
going to make these challenges worse.
  So that is why we are here today, because it is past time for 
Congress to work together to reform the broken immigration system and 
plan better to prevent this continued humanitarian crisis.
  Over the past couple of weeks, including today, I have been speaking 
with Arizona officials on the border about the situation on the ground. 
That includes Border Patrol, who are seeing their staff stretched even 
further. That includes cities and counties that are having their 
emergency services strained. And that includes humanitarian and 
nonprofit organizations that are trying to increase their capacity 
because they are being stretched so thin. And they are expecting to be 
stretched even further just to help people.
  So I have been pushing the Department of Homeland Security as they 
work to mobilize as much staffing and resources and coordination as 
they can ahead of a change in the title 42 authority. There is a lot 
left to do, and I will keep working with them toward a secure, humane, 
and orderly process at the border.
  But ultimately--ultimately--Congress needs to step up too. We have to 
do our jobs, because it is not just Arizona that sees the impacts of 
Washington's collective repeated failures to tackle this issue. There 
are hundreds of thousands of Dreamers across the country who are just 
as American as my own two kids or my grandkid, and they still do not 
have a pathway to citizenship.
  They watch every court case, every legislative effort to understand 
how it will impact their lives. That is so they can determine if they 
can continue living, studying, and working in the only country that 
they have ever known. Planning their lives, their careers, their goals 
based on the outcome of a court hearing or what we do in this room or 
fail to do--that is just wrong.
  They deserve a pathway to citizenship. I know it is a priority for 
many whom I have spoken to here over the last 2 years. It is time we do 
this.
  Furthermore, our immigration system just doesn't work for our 
economy. Across the country, there are businesses that can't get the 
workforce they need or that face huge backlogs in the immigration 
system, and a lot of families face similar backlogs too. These are 
folks who are following the rules laid out by our laws, but still run 
into a wall of bureaucracy. It is leading to labor shortages that 
squeeze supply chains and raise prices. So let's fix it.
  And let's take action to better secure the border. That includes 
putting up physical barriers where they make sense, just like I have 
been able to do in places like the Morelos Dam in Yuma, where I pushed 
to finish the construction, but also hiring more Border Patrol 
personnel, increasing their pay, and deploying more of the right 
technology.
  Here is the thing. When you are willing to sit down and really work 
together, you find that there is a lot of common ground on this issue.
  So that is my message to my colleagues today: Come to the table, and 
let's get this done. Let's stop just kicking the can down the road. 
Let's do the tough work that we were sent here to do and get something 
done to secure the border and fix our broken immigration system.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Madam President, I know Arizonans feel the same 
way. As I have talked with you, I have talked to some of my colleagues. 
Nevadans are frustrated. Time and again, over the last two decades, 
they have seen Congress work toward much needed legislation on 
immigration only for reasonable bipartisan agreements to fall apart 
because someone is playing politics.
  We saw this happen in the Senate just last week, when, with some of 
my colleagues--the Presiding Officer, because of you, and Senator 
Tillis--we saw a framework of a bipartisan bill to give Dreamers a 
pathway to citizenship that also provided additional resources to 
increase our border security. There was a balance there to address what 
we are hearing. I heard from my colleagues today, and we are seeing on 
the news what is happening on the southern border right now. But just 
as we seemed to be closing in on a deal, it unfortunately fell through 
once more.

  Now, I know the hope is that we will continue to work on this in the 
new Congress, and I hope we do. I hope we are able to bring more of our 
colleagues together because, if we don't, the alternative is just 
unacceptable.
  There is broad bipartisan consensus in my State and, I know, across 
this country, and I have heard it from some of my colleagues, that 
Congress must create a path to citizenship for Dreamers across the 
country.
  Now, we are just talking about Dreamers. I heard Senator Blunt 
earlier say that the solution for Dreamers exists and that should be 
the easy thing to pass.
  Why? You know, it has really been over two decades since legislation 
was first introduced to protect people who were brought to this country 
as children and who love the only home they have ever known. That is 
our Dreamers.
  It has been over a decade since the creation of the DACA Program, 
which protects some, but not all, of our Dreamers. What is more, the 
program continues to face legal challenges. That has left not just 
Nevadan Dreamers but so many Dreamers across this country in a 
terrifying limbo. Without legal protections, Dreamers can't reach their 
full potential, even though many of them have had incredible successes, 
thanks, in part, to DACA.
  There are 12,000 DACA recipients in Nevada alone and many thousands 
more Dreamers that we know in Nevada and across this country. And I 
have heard my colleagues say it. They are teachers. They are business 
owners. They are healthcare professionals. They are servicemembers. 
They go to work and school every day. They pay taxes. They care for 
their families, and they contribute to our communities.
  All over this country, Dreamers enrich our Nation. Not only do they 
want a path to citizenship; they deserve it. They were on the 
frontlines during our pandemic. They were the essential workers.
  You know, I heard my colleagues talk about Dreamers--and I know the 
Presiding Officer knows this--but I think oftentimes we need to bring 
to Washington the faces of the very people we are talking about because 
sometimes it gets lost. We talk about numbers. We have graphs that say 
we should do this, that we should do that. But we don't actually have 
the very people whom we are talking about in front of us right now so 
that we could show our colleagues who may not be familiar with a 
Dreamer what we are talking about.
  So this is a stack of letters that I received from Dreamers in Nevada 
and from across the country. I want to bring attention to some of these 
Dreamers whom I know who have sent me letters, because this is truly 
why we should be working on, at the very least, legislation that 
focuses on moving the ball forward when it comes to our Dreamers.
  This is from a Dreamer in Nevada. His name is Ricardo. He says:

       I am an undocumented student at the College of Southern 
     Nevada. I will be graduating in the spring of 2023 with a 4.0 
     GPA and I am going to be majoring in real estate. Prior to 
     studying at the College of Southern Nevada, I graduated from 
     the Northwest Career and Technical Academy with a high honor 
     diploma and a GPA of 3.65. This track record in school has 
     allowed me to be eligible for many opportunities that 
     unfortunately I haven't been able to take advantage of due to 
     my status.
       Even though I have done many things to be a stellar student 
     and get opportunities, I have only been able to go so far 
     with my academics because of my status. Many times throughout 
     my life, both in school and outside, I have been told that I 
     can do anything I wanted in life as long as I worked hard for 
     it. So far, I have worked twice as hard to get half as much 
     success as many of my friends.

  I will tell you, that it is true for all of the Dreamers that I talk 
to. They work hard. They love this country. It is the only country they 
know. They do everything they can to excel, whether it is in school or 
at work. They want to be a part of our workforce. They are committed to 
doing so. And that is

[[Page S7812]]

why, as Senator Blunt said, this should be an easy solution.
  I will tell you, by the way, these are not just Dreamers in Nevada 
whom I talk about all the time--and I am proud to. I got letters from 
Dreamers in Kentucky. I got letters from Dreamers in Texas. They are 
all over this country, and they are similar. They are similar to the 
ones that I just talked about.
  So, yes, I think Dreamers deserve a pathway to citizenship, but not 
sometime in the future, not in some future Congress, but now. People on 
both sides of the aisle know this. That is why we have been close to 
compromise so frequently and so frustratingly. But I know it is 
possible to come together on a compromise that supports Dreamers and, 
yes, increases border security. We can do both. They are not mutually 
exclusive. We can work to secure our borders and still work to pass 
legislation to put Dreamers on a pathway. We can do both. It is common 
sense.
  We need these reforms. We need to focus on moving forward and not 
just pointing fingers at the problem.
  We just heard Senator Leahy earlier today give his farewell speech. 
In it he talked about the importance of us not only working together to 
come to compromise, but he talked about that we have to stop finger-
pointing. We have got to stop finger-pointing to the problem for 
political advantage and start pointing the way to a solution. That is 
what this needs now. This is the moment for all of us to come together 
to really find a solution here at the end of the day, to get in a room 
and have commonsense legislation that moves this issue forward, because 
the truth is that there is no need for us to face one crisis after 
another on our southern border.

  Congress's role--and, believe me, this is Congress's role--is to 
solve this problem by working together, but partisan finger-pointing 
and blame games keep it from getting it done.
  I know. I just came off of an election cycle. I know. I can tell you 
that my opponent, instead of coming up with a solution, all he wanted 
to do was point to the border. But, I will tell you, I wasn't sent to 
Congress--I wasn't sent here--to just point blame, identify the 
problem, and do nothing about it. We are sent here to solve problems.
  These aren't easy issues. That is why it requires us to work 
together.
  I have to thank the Presiding Officer because of your willingness to 
reach across the aisle, and you recognize the importance of working 
together to solve problems. That is why I have hope that we can still 
get this done.
  Hearing from some of my colleagues today, I agree with them. There is 
a problem at the border. We have got to fix it. I know it. I was 
attorney general for 8 years in my State. Do you know one of the issues 
I worked on even though I wasn't in a border state? The border and the 
southern border, because we had drug trafficking issues. We had human 
trafficking issues, money laundering, and weapons trafficking that bled 
into my State because of what was happening at the border.
  So my focus has always been: Yes, putting those resources at the 
border to address those issues, including the fentanyl that is coming 
across the border now. And we can do that and still address an issue 
for so many Dreamers who are already here, living in our communities, 
who want to be an essential part of our workforce.
  Why is that important? Because right now we have seen such an 
incredible change in America and across the world since the outbreak of 
the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, workers retired, immigration 
slowed, and labor markets tightened as a result. This country needs 
workers in industries from the tech sector to agriculture, to home 
healthcare and childcare, and we need them badly.
  And here is what I know, and we all know this: that, according to the 
Department of Labor, the United States has a labor shortfall of roughly 
3.5 million people.
  This is our workforce. If we were to pass this pathway for 
citizenship for so many, this is a part of our essential workforce. 
They are already here.
  We are feeling this workforce shortfall in Nevada, and I hear it 
across the country from my colleagues when we talk. Every week I hear 
from business owners in Nevada who tell me about their struggle to find 
employees. Comprehensive immigration reforms would let us welcome 
workers in a way that benefits our society and our economy and treats 
those who want to come to America with dignity.
  Yet we are not enacting them. The last time Congress passed 
comprehensive immigration reform was when Ronald Reagan was President.
  Madam President, Nevada sent me back to the Senate because they 
believe. They believe not only that I can reach across the aisle to 
make change but that I will do it. They have seen me do it before. They 
know I will work with anyone who is willing to come to the table. But 
we need serious action, and I hope my colleagues, whether they are in 
my party or nonpartisan or they are Republicans, are willing to come to 
the table to find a solution.
  We need that willingness to work together and to act on issues like 
Dreamers, like border security. I know my colleague from Texas who is 
here is going to talk about that. I agree with him. But we can do both. 
We can do both and do right by so many and move this country forward.
  As long as I am in the Senate, I am going to be a voice for Dreamers 
because they are a part of the fabric of this country. I will work with 
anyone to fix our broken immigration system and ensure we keep our 
borders secure.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.

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