[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 1016-1017]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks 
around the world--particularly in Paris--the American people know that 
terrorism, sadly, is a threat to us even to this day. We count on one 
department of government as much if not more than any other to protect 
us--the Department of Homeland Security.
  This is the Department which monitors the terrorist threats to our 
country on a minute-by-minute basis. This is the agency that provides 
the inspectors at airports and in many other places to try to thwart 
terrorism before it strikes. It is a critically important part of our 
government--one of the most important departments.
  That is why it is curious to me that House Republicans insisted that 
the budget--the regular budget for the Department of Homeland 
Security--be held up until the end of February. They need their 
Department budget. They need to invest it to keep America safe. Yet, 
the House Republicans said no. They gave a continuing resolution to the 
Department, which basically lets them operate on a day-to-day basis 
with no certainty for the future. That is no way to run an agency, 
particularly one that is supposed to keep America safe.
  Then, last week, the U.S. House of Representatives took another step 
and really revealed what was behind this strategy. They added five 
negative riders to this Department of Homeland Security appropriations 
bill. Their riders are the subject of immigration. Of course, the 
Department of Homeland Security has a responsibility when it comes to 
immigration. These riders were onerous and they threatened the very 
passage of this important legislation, so much so that the President of 
the United States has issued a veto threat if the Republican riders 
from the U.S. House of Representatives are included in the bill when it 
passes the Senate.
  The right thing to do, the smart thing to do, the thing to do to 
protect America is for us to pass the homeland security appropriation 
now so this agency has its money. We should remove the onerous and 
unfair riders that were attached by the House of Representatives. If we 
are to debate the negative aspects of immigration, let's save it for 
another day and not put this Department of Homeland Security at risk 
and the safety of America at risk over this political effort by the 
Republicans in the House of Representatives.
  One aspect of the House measure, an amendment to the Department of 
Homeland Security appropriation, I find particularly troublesome. It 
was 14 years ago when I introduced the DREAM Act. It is hard to imagine 
it has been that long. But the notion behind the DREAM Act was if a 
child is brought to America by a family and is undocumented in this 
country and that child grows up in America, completes high school, and 
has no serious criminal problems in their background, they ought to be 
given a chance to either enlist in our military, to go to college, to 
get on a path toward legalization. That is the DREAM Act.
  Originally the DREAM Act had some Republican sponsorship, but over 
the years that support melted away. Yet, many Republicans have said 
from time to time: I think the DREAM Act is fair; we just haven't 
enacted it into law. Because of that, 2\1/2\ years ago many of us 
appealed to President Obama to protect these DREAMers, these young 
people. Many of them completed school and had nowhere to go. Being 
undocumented, they didn't qualify for a penny of assistance in going to 
college and, many times, if they completed college, they couldn't get a 
job because of their immigration status.
  Back in 2012 President Obama created a program called DACA. The DACA 
Program said that if these DREAMers--these young people who might be 
eligible under the law I described--would come forward and register 
with the government and submit to a background check and pay a filing 
fee, they would be given temporary status to live in the United States 
without being deported, to go to school, to work.
  We estimate that some 2 million young people could qualify for this 
program, and 600,000 have signed up--so far, 600,000. In the State of 
Illinois, 30,000 have signed up. They have come forward.
  I have met some of these young people who have qualified under DACA. 
They are extraordinary young people. I went to Loyola Medical School in 
Chicago. At the medical school I believe there are 10, perhaps 12 
students who are DACA-protected who are now going to medical school. 
There are two things to be said. First, they are extraordinary 
students. They had no chance to go to medical school before DACA, and 
now they do. They are well qualified to go to medical school. Secondly, 
they have only come to Loyola with the promise that after they receive 
their medical license, they will practice in underserved areas in 
Illinois and across

[[Page 1017]]

America, whether it is rural areas or inner city. They are prepared to 
dedicate their professional lives to serving people who otherwise might 
not have access to medical care.
  That is just one example. Let me tell you about some others. I would 
like to update the Senate on two people whom I have come to the floor 
and talked about in the past--Carlos and Rafael Robles. They were 
brought to the United States when they were small children. They grew 
up in suburban Chicago in my home State of Illinois. They were both 
honor students at Palatine High School and Harper Community College.
  In high school Carlos was the captain of the tennis team and a member 
of the varsity swim team. He volunteered for Palatine's physically 
challenged program, where every day he helped to feed lunch to special 
needs students. Carlos graduated from Harper Community College and went 
on to attend Loyola University in Chicago, majoring in education. This 
is what one of his teachers said about him:

       Carlos is the kind of person we want among us because he 
     wants to make the community better. This is the kind of 
     person you want as a student, the kind of kid you want as a 
     neighbor and friend to your child, and most germane to his 
     present circumstance, the kind of person you want as an 
     American.

  After he received DACA protection--President Obama's Executive 
order--Carlos was able to work as a tennis coach at his high school and 
help pay his tuition.
  After he graduated from Loyola with a major in education, Carlos 
worked as a teacher in a public high school in Chicago. I ran into him 
at a meeting last year, and he told me about his ambition to be a 
teacher. He is now attending graduate school at the Gerald R. Ford 
School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, where he is 
studying education policy. He is a bright and engaging young man who 
wants to make our schools more effective.
  In high school, his brother Rafael was captain of the tennis team and 
a member of the varsity swim team and soccer team. He graduated from 
Harper Community College and now attends the University of Illinois, 
where he is majoring in architecture. One of Rafael's teachers said:

       Rafael is the kind of person I have taught about in my 
     Social Studies classes--the American who comes to this 
     country and commits to his community and makes it better for 
     others. Raffi Robles is a young man who makes us better. 
     During my 28-year career as a high school teacher, coach, and 
     administrator, I would place Raffi in the top 5 percent of 
     all the kids with whom I have ever had contact.

  Since receiving DACA, Rafael has been a full-time student while also 
working at Studio Gang Architects, an award-winning architectural firm 
in Chicago. Rafael will graduate this spring with a 3.8 GPA.
  In a letter to Congress, the Robles brothers shared their thoughts 
about efforts to overturn DACA. Here is what they said:

       We ask you today to see it in your heart to do the right 
     thing, to listen, and to reward the values of hard work and 
     diligence, values that made America the most beautiful and 
     prosperous country in the world and that we're sure got you, 
     as members of Congress, to where you are today in life. These 
     are values we have come to admire and respect in the American 
     people. We will continue to uphold these values until the 
     last days of our lives. We hope eventually as citizens of the 
     United States we will become part of a country we now see as 
     home.

  These two individuals, Carlos and Rafael Robles--extraordinary 
DREAMers--were brought to this country as children by their parents, 
undocumented with no future in America, and look what they have done 
with their lives. One has dedicated his life to education and has 
overcome the odds and graduated from Loyola University without any 
government assistance. Because he is undocumented, he doesn't qualify. 
Now he is going for a master's degree, again at his own expense. His 
brother is pursuing a degree in architecture.
  Do you know what House Republicans say? Deport the Robles brothers. 
That is what their amendment to the Department of Homeland Security 
appropriations says. Deport these two young men. Send them out of this 
country despite the fact that they have worked so hard and succeeded in 
what they have set out to achieve.
  The House Republicans want to deport the 600,000 just like them who 
have qualified under the President's DACA Program. And they have gone 
further--not a penny, they have said, for any additional young people 
to apply for the DACA Program. Two million young people, many of whom, 
like the Robles brothers, just want to make America a better place--the 
House Republicans say: Deport them. Further, they say: We won't pass 
the Department of Homeland Security appropriations to protect Americans 
from terrorism until you deport the Robles brothers and young people 
just like them.
  What is wrong with this picture? Have the Members of the House of 
Representatives forgotten who we are as a nation? It is a nation of 
immigrants. My mother was an immigrant to this country. Her 
naturalization certificate is sitting right behind my desk upstairs. I 
am proud of it. She came to this country at the age of 2 from Lithuania 
and raised a family--a proud American citizen. Her son is honored to 
represent the State of Illinois in the U.S. Senate. That is my story. 
That is my family's story. That is America's story. That is the Robles' 
story.
  Why do the House Republicans have such a vengeance against these 
young men and women who through no fault of their own found themselves 
in America and made the best of it and only want to make this a better 
Nation? It drives the House Republicans into a rage to think that the 
Robles brothers might stay in the United States and make this a better 
country. I don't get it. I don't understand their thinking.
  I really would encourage the House Republicans to meet some of the 
DREAMers and get to know them. When they do, the images which perhaps 
they have in their minds would be dispelled quickly.
  We have a job ahead of us. The Senate needs to pass the Department of 
Homeland Security appropriations and the sooner, the better. God forbid 
we face another terrorist attack. Let's not let it happen with this 
important Department facing the restrictions they have been facing 
because of this Republican strategy. Let's give them a full 
appropriation and tell them to do their best every single day to keep 
us safe. Let's not embroil their work in a political debate about 
immigration, which is what the House Republicans insist on. Let's do 
something different here in the Senate. Let's pass a clean Department 
of Homeland Security appropriations bill. Take out the immigration 
riders. Save them for another day. Save them for amendments on another 
bill. Let's fund this Department, and let's get it done now. For the 
safety and security of this Nation, we need to come together on a 
bipartisan basis and put this political tactic by the House Republicans 
behind us.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Rounds). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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