[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 100 (Monday, June 15, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2774-S2775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I just left a rally across the street. 
There are probably 200 young people there. And it was a rally because 
today is the 14th anniversary of the creation of something called DACA. 
The story behind it is worth repeating.
  It was more than 21 years ago that I introduced a bill called the 
DREAM Act. The DREAM Act said if you were a child--infant, toddler, 
young child--brought to this country by your parents, you ought to 
deserve a chance--you deserve a chance--to aspire to become a citizen 
in the United States. But it is a path that you have to fight and walk 
down personally.
  I introduced the DREAM Act. I have called for it on the floor of the 
Senate several times over the last 20 years. I have gotten a majority 
vote, but I never could hit that magic number of 60 at the right 
moment.
  There came a time when a new Senator came to this Chamber to join me 
in Illinois with an unusual name: Barack Obama. He was my colleague, my 
junior Senator, and he was a cosponsor of the DREAM Act, which I just 
described to you.
  The time came, in 2008, when he was elected President of the United 
States. I had hoped, with his leadership and help, we could finally 
pass the DREAM Act. But fate didn't give us that opportunity.
  There came a time when I realized I had to appeal to him personally 
to help us with these young people, so that they wouldn't be deported, 
and he did. I wrote a letter with Richard Lugar, a Republican Senator 
from Indiana, to President Obama. Then, on a bipartisan basis, we asked 
him to do something by Executive order to protect these young children 
from being deported.
  He created DACA, and the DACA Program was very straightforward. By 
Executive order, if you were one of those people brought to the United 
States as a child and you were living in this country and had no 
strikes against you--anything serious--you ought to deserve a chance to 
work without fear of deportation. That is what DACA is. It allows the 
individuals who qualify to work in this country without fear of being 
deported.
  President Obama signed that Executive order 14 years ago today. Mr. 
President, 835,000 individuals are protected by DACA, protected from 
deportation and arrest--835,000.
  Who are they? Teachers, nurses, caregivers. They do a myriad of jobs, 
but they do them all proud to be a part of America.
  And every 2 years, they have to be examined again to continue with 
DACA. Every 2 years, they have to pay a $600 filing fee to go through a 
background check--a criminal background check--to make sure they are no 
danger to anyone. They have to pass that every 2 years.
  Now, what has happened under President Trump is the worst. What they 
have done is to shut off this renewal of DACA status for these 
thousands of people as they become due. It means that many of them are 
now being deported by Trump--by President Trump--and his 
administration.
  I have heard his speeches so many times I can repeat sections of it. 
He said he was going to go after the undocumented immigrants in 
America. He was going after the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, 
the criminally insane, and those who prey on our children.
  Well, that doesn't apply to DACA at all. Each of these individuals 
has gone through a thorough background check--a criminal background 
check--and they don't have anything like that in their background. If 
something terrible should occur involving them, I would be the first to 
say they have to be forced out of this country and leave. But for those 
who were brought here as children, who really want to be part of our 
future, this is their only chance.
  So I left the rally across the street, in the shadow of the Capitol, 
with hundreds of DACA recipients who are asking for protection to 
continue, which they believe that they are entitled to under the law.
  The courts--the Federal courts--have ordered this administration to 
start renewing DACA applications. The administration ignores them and 
doesn't do it. That, to me, is wrong--just plain wrong.
  When you think that these kids grew up in America, went to their 
classroom every day and pledged allegiance to

[[Page S2775]]

that flag, believing they were part of this great Nation, you must 
believe, as I do, that they deserve a chance to prove it. Many of them 
are doing it to this day.
  So there will be several of my colleagues joining me on the floor a 
little later this afternoon to talk about DACA.
  But this is an important program for over 800,000 individuals who are 
critically important to America's future, and I hope that we can find a 
way in our hearts to realize they are not the worst of the worst. In 
many cases, they are the best of the best. All they are asking for is a 
chance to be part of America's future.

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