[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 100 (Monday, June 15, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2792-S2793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ORDER FOR ADJOURNMENT
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come
before the Senate, I ask that it stand adjourned under the previous
order, following the remarks of my Democratic colleagues.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The minority whip.
DACA
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I want to reflect on the 14th
anniversary--it is the 14th anniversary of the Deferred Action for
Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA.
After years of congressional inaction, in 2010, I wrote a letter to
my former Senate colleague President Barack Obama, cosigned by my late
Republican colleague Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, asking President
Obama to stop the deportation of Dreamers.
Who are the Dreamers? They are kids who came to the United States
with their parents. They were infants, toddlers, young boys and girls,
maybe even teenagers. But they didn't make the family decision. They
got in a car and headed north.
They grew up in the United States, never knowing that they were
undocumented and didn't have the proper legal identification. When
everybody stood up in the classroom and pledged allegiance to that
flag, they joined in. That was their flag, for their country and their
future.
And somehow, a little later in life, around their teenage, adolescent
years, one of their parents sat down and said: I have got to tell you
the grim reality. You are not legally in the United States. You are
undocumented. No matter how hard you studied, how many times you
pledged allegiance to that flag, you don't legally belong here.
As a consequence, I introduced a bill called the DREAM Act. The DREAM
Act basically said: If you keep your nose clean, if you work hard, if
you pursue the path the right way--now that you are here--we are not
going to hold it against you that you were sitting in the back seat
when your mom and dad drove up here. We are going to give you a chance
for your future to prove that you are of value to the United States.
That was the DREAM Act.
I tried to pass it on the floor of the Senate many times. Often, I
would get a majority vote, but the requirement on the floor would be 60
votes, and I would fall just short of it.
So it was about 14 or 15 years ago that I wrote this letter, cosigned
by Senator Richard Lugar, to President Barack Obama. When he was in the
Senate, he sat over here. He was a cosponsor of the DREAM Act. So I
knew that I had a pretty good audience, sending him this letter.
I asked him if there is anything, as President of the United States
of America, he can do to protect these young people from being
deported. It took a while. It took months. There was some fierce
negotiations even within his administration. But 14 years ago today, he
came up with the DACA Program.
The DACA Program is fairly simple and straightforward. If you want to
stay in the United States and legally work and also pay your taxes, if
you want to make sure that you are not going to be deported, you come
to the government every 2 years, and you pay a filing fee of $600.
They process you and do an extensive criminal background check. If
you pass that check, you can work here for 2 years and then do it all
over again.
If something happens in the intervening 2 years, where you have
broken the law with a serious crime, you are gone. It is just that
simple. No more DACA protection, nothing.
So how many young people stepped up? I was surprised. I expected
some, but I didn't expect the overwhelming turnout.
It was in August of that year that we held a meeting at the Navy Pier
in Chicago. Congressman Luis Gutierrez and I had thought, well, we will
bring in some volunteer immigration attorneys. We will bring in the
notary publics that may be needed. And we will let these young people--
by and large, young people--sign up for the DACA Program.
We were expecting about 500; 20,000 came--20,000. They stood in line,
starting at midnight, and snaked around the Navy Pier--parents bringing
their kids in to finally have a chance to have peace of mind that their
son or daughter had a future in the United States. How many all
together across the Nation signed up? Mr. President, 835,000--835,000.
They came forward. They received the protection of DACA. And now who
are they, and where are they? They are teaching their kids in the
classroom at school. They are the nurses that answered the buzzer when
your spouse was in the hospital. They are engineers, small business
owners, caregivers. They are taking care of your mom and dad in that
nursing home tonight--DACA.
These young people grew up in America, alongside our own kids. This
is the only place they ever called home. DACA recipients--with peace of
mind that they could go to work--started families, with 37 percent
having U.S.
[[Page S2793]]
citizen children. And 935,000 U.S. citizens live with DACA holders.
This program, created because of a letter that Senator Lugar and I
sent to President Obama, has reached out and touched the lives of
millions of young Americans.
DACA recipients pay their taxes. They contribute nearly $16 billion a
year to the U.S. economy. Let me highlight the story of one of these
DACA recipients so that you come to know at least one person who has
benefited from DACA.
I have come to the floor of the Senate many times to tell these
stories of Dreamers. This is No. 152. Her name is Diana Perez. She was
born in Mexico City.
Diana was brought to this country when she was 7 years old. She grew
up in one of the best cities in the world, as far as I am concerned, a
city which has a pretty good baseball team too. That is, of course, the
city of Chicago in my home State of Illinois--two pretty good baseball
teams. I better be careful.
Before Diana obtained DACA, her academic advisor laid out the
barriers she would face, questioning how she would support herself and
how she would be able to afford her education.
For young people like Diana, this is a hill to climb and a
responsibility that they have to face that many kids don't ever face.
She was a determined person. She wasn't going to let anybody
discourage her from her goals in life. She cleaned houses. She served
coffee to pay her tuition and cover the cost of books.
She was so passionate about her education and it being the key to her
success, she confronted every barrier head-on. Ultimately, Diana
graduated with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in media and
communications from Northeastern Illinois University. She is a proud
Golden Eagle of that great school.
Her experiences in college and graduate school inspired her to fight
for the rights of others and combat discrimination. Diana now serves as
the community engagement director for the city of Chicago's Committee
on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which is chaired by Alderperson Andre
Vasquez of the 40th Ward.
Since joining the committee, Diana has collaborated with community
partners, nonprofits, and government officials, and she has advocated
on behalf of the people of Chicago.
I met Diana here in the Capitol in April. She and her colleagues with
the Chicago Latino Caucus Foundation traveled to Washington, DC. Diana
explained to me that DACA changed her life. It provided her with the
opportunity to pursue the career that she is so passionate about. Her
goal is to work in the Federal Government someday. And wouldn't we all
be lucky to have her represent us?
Despite multiple court challenges, DACA still survives. And the Trump
administration is under court order to resume processing DACA renewals
and work permit applications.
When they couldn't just stop the program, they tried--in the
President's first term, they tried to find some way to slow it down
with a challenge in court. They lost in court. The judge ordered them
to proceed with DACA as written, but they refused to do so.
We know that President Trump attempted to eliminate DACA in his first
term. Now his administration is stripping away many of the Dreamers of
their lawful presence and deporting them from the country they grew up
in.
How does that work? They show up to renew their DACA status,
protecting them from deportation and allowing them to work and pay
taxes, and someone is waiting at the front door. They say: Before you
sign up, we are going to detain you, question you, and deport you. That
is a fact.
The data tells the story. In Illinois alone, my office is working on
92 DACA constituent cases as of May of this year. This month, that
number has climbed to 145--a 50 percent increase. The Trump
administration is gaming the system, not giving people like Diana the
opportunity that they are entitled to, to show up, pay their fee, go
through a background check, and have 2 more years of protection.
The slow-walking of renewals has resulted in many Dreamers--
individuals who are following every rule--to lose their DACA
protection, lose their jobs, and risk deportation through no fault of
their own.
Additionally, the Justice Department's Board of Immigration Appeals,
which has been totally politicized by this administration, recently
issued a controversial decision, holding that DACA would no longer
necessarily protect Dreamers from deportation.
When President Obama created DACA 14 years ago, some Dreamers and
their families expressed concern. I heard them. I saw them at the Navy
Pier.
Why would we possibly give all our personal information about our
family to protect our daughter under DACA if that information could be
used against our family in later years and deport people in our family?
Why should we cooperate? Why should we come out of the shadows?
Well, many of us said to them: Just follow the law. The law is
established by this executive order. Do what you are supposed to do.
Pay your $600 fee every 2 years. Go through your criminal background
check. Make sure you show up in time to renew your DACA protection. Do
those things, and you will be following the law. You will be fine.
We were wrong. The information, which these families turned over for
DACA applications, is now being used to seek them out, detain them,
arrest them, and deport them. What a heartbreak.
After years of waiting, I think it is long overdue for Congress to
honor the Dreamers' patience and persistence, act on our own promises,
and provide them with a pathway to citizenship. Only Congress can give
Dreamers the stability they crave and deserve. The time to pass the
DREAM Act is now.
To the Dreamers watching, I say: I am not going to give up on you.
Don't give up on me, and don't give up on this Congress. We can do the
right thing. I am going to continue to fight for the Dreamers and
continue to fight for DACA.
In the face of this administration's actions, Congress must finally
act to protect these young people who know no other home than here.
This is a matter of simple American fairness and justice.
If you could meet Diana--or the thousands of others who take
advantage of DACA to give back to this country--you can understand why
this is the right thing to do.
I don't believe that we should knowingly accept any dangerous person
who wants to come into this country, nor should we allow any dangerous
person to continue to stay in this country if they have committed a
serious crime or are threatening. They are gone.
But for those who were brought here as kids, as children, who became
part of America--because they fell in love with this country, like we
all do--and just want a chance to be a part of its future, this is not
too much to ask. You can be tough on border enforcement. You can be
tough on crimes committed by those who are not here legally. I will
join in that effort.
But in the meantime, have a heart for those who are really trying
their best to make a life in America and make this country a better
place. The DACA recipients are just those people. They deserve our
help.
I yield the floor.
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