[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 199 (Monday, December 4, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5701-S5703]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Immigration

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, in the depths of World War II raging in 
Europe, a group of people decided to charter a ship and come to the 
United States. They were Jewish people from European countries. The 
ship was known as the USS St. Louis. It went to the port in Havana, 
Cuba, and was turned away. It tried to land in the United States and 
was turned away again. It eventually returned to Europe, a boatload of 
Jewish people. Hundreds of them died in the Holocaust.
  We reflected on that after World War II and decided it was not a 
period in American history that we should take pride in but a lesson to 
us of what happens when people are in desperate situations and ask for 
help.
  I believe it was in 1951 that we entered into the Geneva Convention, 
an agreement when it came to refugees who sought refuge at the shore. 
The United States, under Presidents of both political parties, wanted 
to establish once and for all that what happened to the USS St. Louis 
did not reflect the values of the United States of America. So in 1951, 
we established, with many nations around the world, a standard for what 
to do with refugees, people who sought refuge in your country because 
of fear of staying in their own country.
  The system worked well for us for many decades, but now we are facing 
a new challenge we have never seen before. The number of refugees from 
around the world is at a recordbreaking pace--some refugees because of 
war, some because of fear, religious belief, state of the environment--
and they are moving in massive numbers all over the globe, particularly 
into Europe and the United States.
  So we have seen recordbreaking numbers appearing at our border to the 
south of our country, and we have heard from the other party quite a 
bit about this--deservedly so.
  I am a person who believes in immigration. My mother was an immigrant 
to this country, and I am proud to be in the Senate, a first-generation 
American, representing the great State of Illinois, as the Presiding 
Officer does. But I understand the overwhelming numbers we are facing 
at the border and President Biden is facing really argue for us to take 
a hard look at the way we approach this.
  If you have ever been to an immigration court--and I have in the city 
of Chicago--it is an overwhelming experience. You see people standing 
three and four deep against the wall, waiting for their numbers to be 
called. Usually--in fact, almost without fail--their cases are 
postponed for another 6 months or another year.
  It takes years for a person's refugee claim to be litigated. That is 
just plain wrong. Justice delayed in this situation is clearly justice 
denied. And the fact that half of them don't win in their litigation is 
an indication that if they were tried at an earlier date, the 
resolution of their future would be obvious.
  So now we hear from our Republican friends that before we can provide 
any more military assistance to Ukraine in their war against Vladimir 
Putin, the war criminal from Moscow, if we are going to provide any 
assistance to Israel to fight off the Hamas terrorism

[[Page S5702]]

group, we have to resolve the problems at our southern border before we 
can go forward.
  It troubles me because I have been working on immigration for at 
least 20 years, maybe more, and I know how difficult the issue is. It 
is hard to explain in the United States of America, a nation of 
immigrants, why immigration is such a hot, controversial topic. 
Virtually everyone in this country is only a generation or two removed 
from being an immigrant to this country, and yet there has been 
resistance throughout our history--unless we needed cheap labor to 
build the transcontinental railroad, when we invited Chinese workers to 
come in. We treated them, unfortunately, in an inhumane fashion and 
didn't give them, largely, the eligibility to become citizens. But we 
needed the labor. We needed the workers. It has happened many times 
before.

  What troubles me about the debate now about the southern border is it 
is one-half of the immigration equation. Yes, we need order at the 
border. Yes, we need to have changes in the laws that reflect the 
reality of the overwhelming numbers from all over the world who are 
coming to our shores and our border. But there is also an incredible 
demand for legal immigration into this country even now.
  The Presiding Officer, my colleague from the State of Illinois, has 
legislation which addresses one aspect of that. Her bill--and I hope I 
describe it accurately--says that if you are an undocumented person in 
this country and you can pass the physical and the required tests, 
background test and the like, you can serve in our military, and if you 
do it honorably, we will make you citizens of the United States.
  Do we need that? Do you know what the recruiting numbers are at the 
Army and the Navy and the Air Force? They can't reach their quotas each 
month. They can't find enough people to join our military forces. There 
are those who are undocumented who want the chance to serve and risk 
their lives for this country. Should we give them the chance? I think 
we should.
  Let me tell you about others that we need. In my State of Illinois, 
in the inner city in Chicago and the rural areas downstate, we are 
holding our breath, hoping that we can keep hospitals open. Do you know 
why? We don't have enough medical personnel. Yet there are people all 
around this world who have medical credentials as doctors and nurses 
and skilled technicians who want to come to the United States, but we 
don't give them the chance.
  I think it is a reasonable thing to do. I think it would make us a 
better nation and a healthier nation to keep those hospitals open, and 
they are desperate to find new personnel. We need legal immigration for 
that.
  The same holds true when it comes to agricultural workers. In our 
State of Illinois, we desperately need them for virtually every aspect 
of farming and agriculture. Are they available and ready to come? Yes. 
But we need a change in the immigration law to reach that.
  The point I am trying to make is there are many issues involving 
immigration. Enforcement and making certain that the people who come 
here are not a danger to our country are primary. The second to that is 
to make sure we have an orderly process, and third, that we recognize 
that legal immigration is needed now more than ever.
  A few years back, I was part of an effort called the Gang of Eight--
John McCain, myself, Chuck Schumer. We came together and wrote a 
comprehensive immigration bill. It hadn't been done for over 25 years. 
We brought it to the floor of the Senate, and it passed.
  You see, we have 11 million undocumented people in the United States. 
They are people who are raising families, going to work, attending 
churches and synagogues and temples that you attend. They are part of 
America, but legally they are not on the books.
  If we had a system I think that is fair, that passed the U.S. Senate, 
which said once and for all they can step forward out of the shadows, 
register with the government, pay their fair share of taxes, pay into 
Social Security, help us deal with the financial challenges of our 
entitlement system, and work in this country legally, registered, and 
we know exactly where they live--that, to me, is a sensible approach. 
It is one that passed on the floor of the Senate. It is one which we 
should turn to again.
  As we are giving work permits to those who are in temporary protected 
status, we should be giving work permits to those who have been here 
for years and years, raised a family, and proven that they can be a 
good neighbor to anyone in this country. Give them a chance to legally 
work. I think that is important, and we should do that.
  I want to tell you a story about one person. She is a resident of the 
State of Illinois.
  Twenty years ago, I introduced the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act said that 
if you were brought here as an infant, toddler, or small child, you 
should be given a chance to earn your way to citizenship in America.
  When they test this proposition across the country, Democrats and 
Republicans agree that is only fair. Those little kids didn't have a 
vote when their family decided to come to the United States. They have 
grown up here. They have been educated in our schools here. They have 
advanced degrees. They want to be part of America's future, and they 
should be given that chance.
  Well, unfortunately, the bill did not pass. But President Barack 
Obama, the former Senator from Illinois, created a program called DACA, 
which addressed that very serious gap in immigration law for these 
young people. Eight hundred thousand young people qualified for the 
DACA Program. Now it is under attack in the courts, and the question 
is, Will it survive even for those 800,000? I am not sure it will. But 
we do know that these Dreamers can offer a lot to this country. Let me 
tell you the story of one of them.
  Her name is Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez. She first came to Blue Island, 
IL, from Mexico City as a 9-year-old with her family. When she was a 
sophomore in high school, Mitchell was in a car accident with her mom 
and sister. The police officer who came to the scene made an impression 
by being respectful, professional, and speaking Spanish to make her 
mother feel more comfortable. The experience prompted Mitchell to 
decide that she wanted to serve her community as a police officer.

  Mitchell obtained an associate's degree from Moraine Valley Community 
College in Palos Hills, IL. Last year, she graduated magna cum laude 
from Governors State University with a bachelor's degree in criminal 
justice.
  Understanding how immigrants contribute to our communities, Blue 
Island decided to permit DACA recipients like Mitchell to work as 
police officers. Today, Mitchell serves her community as a part-time 
police officer while she is attending the police academy and working as 
a security officer at the local high school.
  But DACA was always intended to be a temporary solution for Dreamers 
like Mitchell. Since President Obama established the program, 
Republicans have waged a relentless campaign to overturn it and deport 
these Dreamers back to the countries they may not even remember. The 
permanent solution is enacting a piece of legislation that I did 
introduce 20 years ago, the DREAM Act. It would provide a path to 
citizenship for Dreamers all across the country.
  Without permanent protections, these young people have been forced to 
live in limbo and fear that DACA will be overturned by the courts. They 
have to renew their status every 2 years, which means their lives are 
in 2-year increments.
  In September, a Federal judge in Texas declared the DACA Program 
illegal, though the decision left in place protections for current 
recipients like Mitchell while her appeal is pending.
  Until the DREAM Act is passed, Mitchell's service to her community 
and to our Nation is at risk, as is the service that so many Dreamers 
are providing in their communities as teachers, medical professionals, 
servicemembers, and so much more.
  Immigrants have been a critical part of the American success story, 
and our Nation needs immigrants like Mitchell and her family more than 
ever today. If DACA is struck down, experts predict that our economy 
will lose billions of dollars, $11.7 billion in lost wages. And without 
continued legal immigration, the U.S. working-age population will

[[Page S5703]]

shrink by over 6 million by 2040. As more Americans retire, this could 
contribute to a 23-percent reduction in the monthly Social Security 
checks that beneficiaries have been promised.
  These young people, these DACA recipients and many others, want to be 
part of our economy, pay their taxes, pay into Social Security, and we 
desperately need them to do it. With over 9\1/2\ million jobs open 
right now in America, our farmers, hospitals, and small business owners 
desperately need immigrants to meet their workforce needs.
  To resolve these challenges, we should create additional lawful 
pathways for immigrants to work in the United States. We should also 
give our undocumented population--most of whom have been here for 
decades--legal status so they can fully contribute to our society.
  I am ready to negotiate with my Republican colleagues in good faith 
to solve the problem at the border. And it needs a solution. I readily 
acknowledge that. But at the same time, I hope they will take a 
positive approach as well knowing that we desperately need legal 
immigration. And if people are clear to come to our country for that 
purpose, we will be better for it in so many different levels.
  There are some on the other side--I am going to be very blunt about 
this--who believe in the theory of not one more immigrant in this 
country. They don't know the history of the United States. They don't 
know what these immigrants have meant to us. In my family and the 
families across the whole country, you can point to immigrants who have 
made a solid difference in building a family and in building an economy 
which we all prosper from today.
  So let's get it right when it comes to enforcement at the border, but 
let's not tell half the story. Let's tell the other half of the story 
that legal immigration is critical to our future, and people like 
Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez, who is wanting to serve as a police officer in 
her community in Illinois, is an asset to this country, and we need her 
in our future.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REED. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REED. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.