[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18996-18998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               DREAM ACT

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I understand it is likely the majority 
leader will seek to bring up the DREAM Act in a day or two. This is a 
very bad

[[Page 18997]]

piece of legislation, and it is being presented at a time when we have 
massive illegality at our borders.
  One of the fundamental things that separates America from the other 
nations of the world is our commitment to the rule of law. We enforce 
our contracts and our statutes. We punish corruption. One of the great 
advantages this Nation has over others is the degree to which there is 
integrity in our process here. We protect the rights and privileges of 
citizenship. We know one of our most unique and valuable 
characteristics is our legal system.
  Law is a necessary condition for a free society. Freedom cannot 
flourish in chaos. Prosperity cannot arise in an uncertain environment. 
Yet we have allowed our borders to descend into chaos and lawlessness. 
For decades, we have failed to uphold the rule of law. We have failed 
to protect the integrity of citizenship in America and the law.
  Even now, in a post-9/11 world, we still lack control over who comes 
into our country. Every day, guns, drugs, unknown people, unlawfully 
pour across our broken border.
  The consequences of the government's failure are felt keenly by those 
living in our border States. Ranchers living on U.S. soil must confront 
the chaos as a reality of daily life. They are denied the peaceable 
possession of their private property. Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, 
is now known as one of the kidnapping capitals of the world.
  Yet it does not have to be this way. With enough will and determined 
execution of a carefully developed plan, executed by a President and 
supported by a Congress that has as its serious goal the elimination of 
this illegality, it will be successful and can be successful in just a 
few years.
  It is not impossible. That is what the public wants and this is what 
our political leaders have obstinately refused to do. Americans are 
willing--and I am certainly willing--to consider some sort of status 
for those who have peacefully lived and worked in our country for some 
extended period of time, but only after we have secured the border. As 
long as you continue to provide amnesty for people who come into our 
country and stay here for a period of time, you incentivize further 
illegality.
  Well, this is because passage of amnesty bills, such as the DREAM 
Act, is an immediate reward for the illegal entry, with no serious plan 
to stop the illegal flow. Indeed, the legislation incentivizes the flow 
or the entry of people into our country illegally.
  What does this type of legislation say to the rest of the world and 
to anyone thinking about coming illegally? It says if you can get in 
the United States and hang on for a number of years, sooner or later we 
are going to reward you by forgiving your illegal behavior and putting 
you on a path to citizenship. That is not the message we need to send.
  The public will not allow us to repeat the mistakes of the 1986 
amnesty. We have discussed that so many times. They will not fall for 
the ruse that we can have amnesty first and security later. They 
understand that if we do not secure the border first, we may never 
secure it at all. We certainly have not done so as of this date.
  Despite this--and despite historic losses in the recent election--the 
Democratic leaders of this Congress are now pushing a reckless proposal 
for mass amnesty known as the DREAM Act.
  At a time when our Nation is struggling with high unemployment and 
runaway government spending, the bill would authorize millions of 
illegal workers and impose an even greater burden on the taxpayers. 
Making matters worse, those eligible for the DREAM Act amnesty include 
illegal aliens with criminal records. And all of this is being rushed 
through a lameduck Congress with no committee review.
  The Democratic leaders have even introduced four versions of the same 
bill in just over 2 months--3 in the last 13 days. It has been a shell 
game that abuses the legislative process. Is it any wonder that the 
American people have lost faith in this institution?
  Americans want us to enforce the laws, but we are considering a bill 
that would reward and encourage their violation. Americans want 
Congress to end the lawlessness, but this bill would surrender to it.
  Consider a few of the DREAM Act's most troubling provisions:
  First, the DREAM Act is not limited to children. Illegal aliens as 
old as 30 or 35 are eligible on the date of the enactment of the bill. 
And they remain eligible to apply at any future age, as the 
registration window does not close. You do not need a high school 
diploma, a college degree, or military service in order to receive 
amnesty under the DREAM Act as proposed.
  Illegal aliens can receive indefinite legal status as long as they 
have a GED, the alternative to a high school diploma. They can receive 
permanent legal status and a guaranteed path to citizenship as long as 
they complete just 2 years of college or trade school.
  One version of the DREAM Act offers illegal aliens in-State tuition 
for which many Americans are not eligible. All four versions provide 
illegal aliens with Federal education benefits, such as work-study 
programs, Federal student loans, and access to public colleges that are 
already short on spaces and resources.
  The Congressional Budget Office is the entity that gives us technical 
data about legislation. It is a pretty objective group. It is hired by 
the Democratic leader, the Democratic majority, but I think most of the 
time they try to do the right thing. They say the bill would add $5 
billion to the deficit. But that number really, I have to say, is low. 
The CBO clearly failed to account for a number of major cost factors 
associated with implementation of the DREAM Act. Of course, they 
haven't had much time to make this analysis since the most recent 
version was introduced just 5 days ago. The CBO fails to account for 
unemployment, public education cost, chain migration, and fraud. 
Furthermore, it did not take into account what history has proven: 
passing amnesty will incentivize even more illegality and lawlessness 
at the border.
  In addition, the CBO assumes a large portion of these individuals 
will obtain jobs, but there is no surplus of job opportunities in 
American today. Unemployment just went up from 9.6 to 9.8--almost 10 
percent. It has remained high for an exceedingly long period of time. 
The economists are telling us we are going to have to look forward to 
much higher unemployment than we have been used to in the past. Well, 
nobody is scoring the fact that many American job seekers will not get 
a job if large numbers--a million or more--of illegal aliens are 
converted to legal status and start competing for jobs, and perhaps 
denying them that job, which may have good benefits and good pay.
  Conservative estimates say that between 1.3 and 2.1 million illegal 
aliens will be immediately eligible for this DREAM Act amnesty, but 
that number will grow significantly as the bill has no cap or sunset to 
it. Moreover, those who obtain legal status can then petitions for 
their relatives. Under the DREAM Act, illegal aliens are put on a path 
to citizenship--first they receive conditional status, then legal 
permanent resident status, and finally citizenship. After they are 
naturalized, they can then, through the chain migration process, apply 
to bring in their relatives. Some of the people they might apply to 
bring in are likely to be the persons who brought them here illegally. 
As a result, the number of green cards granted could easily triple what 
is expected.
  Many with criminal records will also be eligible for the DREAM Act's 
amnesty. They simply must have less than three misdemeanor 
convictions--under the Act, Congress is arbitrarily determining that 
two misdemeanors is OK while three is not so good. Those potentially 
eligible would include drunk drivers, gang members, and even those who 
have committed certain sexual offenses.
  The most recent version of the bill also gives the Secretary of 
Homeland Security broad authority to waive ineligibility for even the 
most severe criminal offenders and those who pose a threat to our 
national security. Many such offenses include indecent exposure, DUI, 
smaller thefts, and drug charges. Some of them are charged as

[[Page 18998]]

felonies and very routinely reduced to misdemeanors. Two misdemeanor 
drug convictions won't bar you from being protected under this act and 
being able to have a guaranteed path to citizenship.
  Those who commit document fraud or who lie to immigration authorities 
will be eligible for the bill's amnesty as well. This is particularly 
troubling as it contains a potential loophole for high-risk individuals 
placed on the pathway to citizenship. One of the warning signs we 
missed prior to 9/11 was the fraudulent visa applications submitted by 
the 9/11 hijackers. This bill would likely make it more difficult to 
combat immigration fraud from the dangerous regions of the Middle East 
where we have had an unfortunate history of abuse.
  This DREAM Act even contains a safe harbor provision--very 
significant--that would prevent many applicants from being removed as 
long as their application is pending. If they have a serious criminal 
record, they would normally be subjected to deportation. This provision 
could dramatically hinder Federal authorities and will undoubtedly 
unleash a torrent of costly litigation that will suck up untold hours 
of our law enforcement personnel's time and ability and resources that 
ought to be focused on the border.
  If somebody who has been apprehended for illegally being in the 
country or committing a serious crime can come into court and assert 
they have filed a petition under the DREAM Act, they can not be 
deported. This is really a problem because if a facility does not have 
enough bed space, what are we supposed to do? Are we now going to have 
investigators drop what they are doing and go out and try to prove that 
someone was here before the age of 16? Did they really have a GED or is 
that a forged document? How many criminal convictions do they have? 
This all has to be investigated now. It could takes weeks or even 
months. So what happens? Are we going to keep those individuals in jail 
instead of deporting them? How much cost is involved in that? All of 
that is not counted in this process.
  I just want to say that my experience in law enforcement is that 
there are not enough people to do those investigations and we are going 
to have millions of applications. How do we prove somebody came here at 
age 15 instead of age 18? How do we prove they have been here 5 years? 
How do we prove they came here 5 years ago and came at age 17 or 15 or 
14? Who is going to investigate that and dispute it, if they submit a 
statement and say they have been here for 5 years? We have to take the 
time now to investigate all of that?
  This is not what we need to be doing right now. We have more serious 
challenges to end the illegal flow. And for people who have been here a 
long time and who have otherwise been good citizens and have worked 
hard, we can figure out some way to deal with their future. But I do 
not believe this is the right step. It is not the right step.
  In short, I believe the bill will be a disaster. Yet our Democratic 
leadership remains committed in their push for this amnesty provision. 
They are again defying the public will and sending the world a message 
that our Nation is not serious about the integrity of our borders and 
our laws.
  American citizenship is the envy of the world, but central to our 
Nation's greatness is our respect for the rule of law. None of us that 
I am aware of in this Senate is proposing to in any significant way 
reduce the number of people who come to our country lawfully. Indeed, 
there are many provisions to increase the number who come lawfully. But 
the American people are rightly saying: We have to do something about 
the illegality. By eroding the respect for law through reckless and 
irresponsible amnesty provisions, we would do a disservice not only to 
the 300 million Americans who call this Nation their home but to all 
those future citizens who are applying and waiting in line to enter our 
country lawfully.
  I feel strongly about this. Hopefully, this matter will not be 
proceeded with. We need to wrestle with how to bring our immigration 
system under control. We can do that. I have studied it for some time. 
I truly believe it can be done.
  Senator McCain from Arizona, who has been to the border a great deal, 
has said that within a year or two we can end this massive illegality. 
I have been saying that for a number of years. I truly believe it. But 
we need to focus on that, not focus on rewards for those who have 
entered illegally. That is why this legislation should not pass.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor and note the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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