[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Pages 25605-25607]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             THE DREAM ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, during the course of the deliberation on 
this Defense authorization bill, it has been my intention to offer an 
amendment to the so-called DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is a narrowly 
tailored, bipartisan measure that would give a select group of 
undocumented young people in America the chance to become legal 
residents if they came to this country as children, are currently long-
term U.S. residents, have good moral character, no criminal record, and 
are willing to either enlist in the U.S. military or to attend college 
for at least 2 years.
  The cosponsors of this amendment include Senators Hagel, Lugar, 
Hatch, Bingaman, Boxer, Cantwell, Clinton, Feinstein, Kerry, Leahy, 
Lieberman, Menendez, Murray, Nelson of Florida, and Obama. It is a 
bipartisan measure; it has been from the start. It says to a select 
group of immigrant students who grew up in our country: America is 
going to give you a chance. We will give you the opportunity to earn 
your way to legal status if you meet each and every one of the 
following requirements: You came to the United States before the age of 
15; you have been continually present in the United States for at least 
5 years; you are 29 years or younger when the DREAM Act becomes law, 
have good moral character, have not engaged in criminal activity or 
terrorist activity of any kind, not participated in alien smuggling; 
you have graduated from a U.S. high school; and you will serve in the 
military or attend college for at least 2 years.
  This bill means a lot to me, but it means even more to a lot of young 
people across this country. Time and again I run into these young men 
and women. Some of them came to America as toddlers, as infants. They 
were brought into this country by their parents, certainly with no 
voice in the decision, and they grew up here. They attended our 
schools. Now they have reached a point in their lives where they want 
to go forward to make decisions about their careers. They are 
frustrated because they have no legal status.
  I have run into specific cases time and again, and since I introduced 
this bill I have met so many of these students. It strikes me as 
interesting that we are at a point in American history that we say we 
do not have enough skilled workers, so we have to have H1-B visa 
holders come in from overseas; engineers, scientists, doctors, nurses 
who come in for 3-year periods of time to supplement America's 
workforce because we do not have enough skilled people. And here we 
have a group of people who are graduates of high school, prepared to go 
to college or serve in our military, who, under our law as currently 
written, are being told: Leave. We do not need you. We do not want you.
  If you meet these people, you will come to understand the potential 
they bring to America's future: the young Korean-American woman I met 
through my office, who is an accomplished pianist, plays classical 
piano in symphonies and has been accepted at the most prestigious music 
school in America to forward her career in music; a young Indian girl 
who is studying to be a dentist at a university in Illinois; a young 
Hispanic male who has just completed his graduate degree at an Illinois 
university in microbiology whose goal is to be a researcher for either 
a government agency or a pharmaceutical company, looking for cures for 
diseases.
  Future nurses, future teachers, future doctors, scientists, and 
engineers, I have met them. They are the valedictorians of their high 
school classes, they are the role models for kids in their communities, 
they are people with an extraordinary wealth of talent looking for a 
chance to prove themselves.
  Each and every one of them is without a country, without a country 
because they were brought to the United States as children by their 
parents with, as I mentioned earlier, no voice in that decision. And 
this is all they know. This is what they want. This is the country they 
identify with, the country they want to be part of.
  That is why I introduced this bill some 5 years ago and have worked 
on it ever since. People ask: Why would you offer the DREAM Act as an 
amendment to the Defense authorization bill? Well, there are pretty 
compelling reasons for doing that. We are having trouble recruiting and 
retaining soldiers for our Army. We are accepting more applicants for 
the U.S. Army who are high school dropouts, applicants who have low 
scores on the military aptitude test, and even some with criminal 
backgrounds.
  Under the DREAM Act, thousands of well-qualified potential recruits 
for the military would become eligible for the first time, and many are 
eager to serve in the Armed Forces, to stand up for the country they 
love and the country they want to be part of.
  Under the DREAM Act, they have a strong incentive to enlist because 
it gives them a path to permanent legal status. Most people do not know 
that in the ranks of the military today we have about 40,000 men and 
women who are not citizens of the United States. They are legal 
residents, but they are not citizens.
  I met some of them when I went to Iraq and went to a Marine Corps 
camp. One in particular sticks in my memory: a young man who, as I 
walked through the ranks of Illinois marines, handed me a brown 
envelope and said: Senator, can you help me become a citizen? I would 
really like to vote someday.
  You do not easily forget that kind of a request from a young man who 
later that day would strap on his body armor, his helmet, take his 
weapon, and go out and fight alongside American citizens who were also 
members of the Marine Corps. The same is true in the Army; the same is 
true in many of our military services. We do not make it a condition of 
military service that you be a citizen, only that you currently be a 
legal resident.
  Of course, we know, sadly, that if that soldier or another one like 
him was killed in combat, we would award them citizenship posthumously. 
Does that sound right? Does it sound right that someone who is willing 
to serve,

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defend our country, take an oath of loyalty to our Nation, risk his 
life, perhaps be injured, does it make sense for us to say to them: 
Well, you are good, good enough to serve in the military but not good 
enough to be an American citizen?
  Now, think of those young people, many of whom would step forward 
today, raise their hand, and proudly serve in the military. Now, this 
bill, the DREAM Act, does not mandate military service. I would not do 
that. We have a volunteer military, and I want to keep it that way. A 
student who is otherwise eligible could earn legal status by attending 
college as well. That is consistent with the spirit of a volunteer 
military force, that we do not force young people to enlist as a 
condition of status.
  But there is a strong incentive for military service. Those who 
analyze it say, you know what. These young people who would be eligible 
to serve in the military through the DREAM Act are exactly the kind of 
people we want. A 2004 survey by the Rand Corporation found that 45 
percent of Hispanic males, 31 percent of Hispanic females between the 
ages of 16 and 21, were likely to serve in the Armed Forces. That is 45 
percent of Hispanic males compared to 24 percent of White males; 31 
percent of Hispanic females compared to 10 percent of White women.
  It is important to note that immigrants have an outstanding tradition 
of service in the military. About 8,000 enlist each year, those with 
legal status but not in the DREAM Act category.
  Last night, like many Americans, I watched a documentary prepared by 
Kenneth Burns called ``The War,'' about World War II. There was an 
especially touching part of it about one of our colleagues, Senator 
Danny Inouye of Hawaii, a man of Japanese ancestry, who enlisted in the 
Army from Hawaii when our Government decided to take a chance on these 
Japanese Americans and see if maybe they would stand up for America, 
even to fight our enemies, which included the nation of Japan. They 
hoped to get 1,500 draftees out of Hawaii.
  When Danny Inouye, our colleague, volunteered and enlisted, he was 
one of 10,000 who stepped forward to serve. He told this touching story 
of taking the streetcar with his dad, off to catch the boat for 
military training, and how his dad reminded him how good this country 
had been to him and to his family and urged him to serve with honor and 
never dishonor his family's name.
  Danny Inouye told that story like no one else could because, of 
course, he served and became an officer in the U.S. Army. During an 
invasion in Italy, he was gravely wounded, lost his left arm, and was 
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the valor he showed in 
combat. People worried at that time whether they should take a chance 
with Japanese Americans. Could we really trust them? Would they really 
fight for America and be loyal? Danny Inouye and thousands of others 
proved that they would.
  The same question is being raised about these young people. These are 
young people who are undocumented. They don't technically have 
citizenship. They certainly don't have one in America. They are asking 
for a chance to serve. We are told they want to serve in greater 
numbers than most others.
  A recent study by the Center for Naval Analyses concluded ``non-
citizens have high rates of success while serving [in the military]--
they are far more likely . . . to fulfill their enlistment obligations 
than their U.S.-born counterparts.''
  The Pentagon recognizes the merit of the DREAM Act. Bill Carr, Acting 
Under Secretary of Defense for Military Personnel Policy, recently said 
that the DREAM Act is ``very appealing'' to the military because it 
would apply to the ``cream of the crop of students.'' Mr. Carr 
concluded that the DREAM Act would be ``good for readiness.''
  The DREAM Act is also supported by a broad coalition of military 
experts, education, business, labor, civil rights and religious leaders 
from across the political spectrum and around the country. Last week, I 
received a letter supporting the DREAM Act from over 60 national 
organizations: the American Federation of State and County Municipal 
Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, the Anti-Defamation 
League, the American Baptist Churches, Asian-American Justice Center, 
the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Episcopal 
Migration Ministries, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, U.S. Hispanic 
Chamber of Congress, the Jesuit Conference, the Jewish Council for 
Public Affairs, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Lutheran 
Immigration and Refugee Services, National Council of Jewish Women, 
National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, Service 
Employees International Union, and UNITE HERE.
  Thomas Wenski is bishop of Orlando, FL. He issued a statement on 
behalf of the U.S. Catholic Bishops supporting the DREAM Act. I would 
like to read it into the Record:

       For those who call this legislation an amnesty, I say shame 
     on you. These are children who were brought to this country 
     illegally through no fault of their own . . . The United 
     States is the only country and home many of them know.
       Are we to deport some of our future leaders to a country 
     they do not know in the name of an unjust law? Should we 
     forsake these young people because we lack the political will 
     and courage to provide them a just remedy?
       Our elected officials should resist the voices of 
     dissension and fear this time and vote for the DREAM Act. By 
     investing in these young people, our nation will receive 
     benefits for years to come. It also is the right and moral 
     thing to do.

  Last week, John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, issued a 
statement. He said:

       [The DREAM Act] will go a long way in remedying the 
     injustices that these hard-working and law-abiding children 
     face. We strongly support passage of the DREAM Act . . .
       Students who qualify for the DREAM Act are graduating at 
     the top of their class; they are honor roll students, star 
     athletes and valedictorians. They have lived in the United 
     States most of their lives; this is the only country they 
     know. These children are as committed to their communities 
     and to this country as their American-born classmates. Yet, 
     because they lack legal status, they do not have the same 
     opportunities to education or to a decent job.

  This is the choice the DREAM Act presents to us. We can allow a 
generation of immigrant students with great potential and ambitions to 
contribute more fully to our society and national security or we can 
relegate them to a future in the shadows, which would be a loss for all 
Americans.
  Since I introduced this bill about 5 years ago, I have run into many 
of these same students. Life goes on for them. They don't qualify for 
Federal loans, for grants. They are trying to make it through college. 
They borrow the money and try to come up with it, delay their 
education, if they can. Occasionally, in the few weeks when I get back 
in their neighborhoods, they will come and see me. They will walk up to 
me and say: Senator, what is new with the DREAM Act? It isn't just an 
idle question of someone who might follow legislative activity; this is 
a question which will decide their lives for them. It will decide 
whether we cast them aside, reject them, say we don't need their talent 
and dreams and their idealism or whether we will vote for this bill and 
give these young people a chance.
  When I hear some describe this as amnesty, I wonder, if someone is 
willing to risk his or her life to serve in our military in a combat 
zone, is that a giveaway? Is that citizenship for nothing? I don't 
think so. It has really been fundamental that we don't hold children 
responsible for the errors and crimes of their parents. Why, then, 
would we hold these children responsible?
  When I hear some of the critics talk about the millions who will 
benefit from this, those numbers don't match up to reality. To qualify 
for this, you have to graduate from high school. Fifty percent of 
Hispanic students don't graduate from high school. So already these 
students have beaten the odds. Then how many of these same Hispanic 
students go on to finish the first year of college? An even smaller 
percentage. The numbers go down. So we are talking about an elite group 
of

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students with great potential who can make this a greater nation, and 
we are talking about an elite group of undocumented students willing to 
risk their lives for America.
  I ask my colleagues to cast aside some of the rhetoric which is 
divisive and sometimes unfair about these young people. Take the time 
to meet them. Sit down and talk to them. You will see in their faces 
and in their conversation the kind of idealism, the kind of aspiration 
for a greater America we can only hope for from the next generation.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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