[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 883-884]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FUNDING

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in the aftermath of the recent terror 
attacks in France, it is tough to know what the House of 
Representatives is thinking. Last week, the U.S. House of 
Representatives threatened to shut down the Department of Homeland 
Security. That is the government agency responsible for protecting 
America from the threat of terrorism.
  Why are we debating full funding for the Department of Homeland 
Security? Every other government agency, I might add, has been properly 
funded through the omnibus bill. But the Republicans insisted on not 
funding the Department of Homeland Security, which fights terrorism in 
the regular orderly appropriations process. They insisted this 
Department be funded only through the end of February. Does that mean 
that America is safe from terrorism? I wish it were true. But we know 
that we are only one terrorist away from a terrible incident in 
America.
  One of the Departments with the major responsibility of protecting us 
is the Department of Homeland Security. So why did the Republicans 
decide they wanted to make the funding of this Department uncertain and 
contingent?
  Well, the reason was they are so angry with President Obama's 
Executive order on immigration that they are putting America at risk by 
failing to properly fund the Department of Homeland Security. Then last 
week, the bill the House passed made the appropriation for this 
Department contingent on five riders. A rider is an addition. It is 
language that doesn't relate to a budget or appropriation, and it 
relates to the Executive orders that were established by the President.
  The House bill passed last week would defund President Obama's 
immigration policies, including the Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals Program, known as DACA, which has been in place for over 2 
years.
  What does DACA do? By the President's Executive order, it puts on 
hold the deportations of immigrant students who grew up in America. It 
allows these young people to continue to live and work in this country 
on a temporary basis. They are known, in shorthand, as the DREAMers.
  I know a little bit about this because I introduced the first DREAM 
Act 14 years ago in the U.S. Senate. It has become a very familiar 
term, but when I first started, no one had ever heard of it. What I 
found was there were young people brought to the United States by their 
parents at a very early age who had, obviously, no voice in the 
decision, raised in America, undocumented, went through our schools, 
were successful, had no criminal problems, and wanted a future.
  They couldn't get a future under American law. The DREAM Act would 
give them that opportunity to move to legal status. We have already 
invested in these young people, in their education, so why would we 
want to give up on their talents by deporting them after they are 
educated? That is exactly what the U.S. House of Representatives has 
proposed.
  In 2010, I joined with Republican Senator Richard Lugar. We wrote a 
letter to President Obama. It said: Why would we deport these young 
DREAMers? They offer so much potential for America.
  A year later, 22 Senators joined me in sending a followup letter to 
the President, and he issued his Executive order called DACA.
  Six hundred thousand eligible DREAMers have signed up for DACA, which 
means for these 600,000, they can live and work in America without the 
fear of deportation. It makes a big difference. Thirty thousand of them 
live in Illinois. We estimate there are another 1.5 million eligible.
  The Center for American Progress says these young people aren't just 
taking up space, they are going to add to the economy because of their 
talents. They estimate that these DREAMers will add $329 billion to our 
economy and create 1.4 million new jobs by 2030. That is a pretty tall 
prediction to think that these young people could have that impact on 
our economy.
  Let me tell you the story of one of the DREAMers whom the House 
Republicans would deport, and you may understand why this estimate of 
the profound, important impact of these DREAMers on our economy is 
realistic.
  As I mentioned, I introduced the DREAM Act 14 years ago. I have come 
to the floor over 50 times to tell stories of these DREAMers who, 
frankly, make the case for passing the DREAM Act and for defeating this 
hate-filled provision that was passed by the U.S. House. I am going to 
continue to update these stories about these DREAMers so you can 
understand why giving up on these DREAMers is giving up on the future 
of this country.
  I want to tell you the story about Carlos Martinez. Here is a picture 
of him. Carlos is holding his DACA card under the President's Executive 
order. Carlos and his brother were brought to the United States in 
1991. Carlos was 9 years old. He came to this country and didn't speak 
one word of English, and his father told him, ``Estudien para que no 
batallen en la vida como yo.'' What it means in English is: Study so 
you don't have to struggle in life like I have.
  Carlos took his father's advice to heart. At high school in Tucson, 
AZ, Carlos graduated ninth in his class. Then he enrolled at the 
University of Arizona. He was undocumented at the time. He had never 
owned a computer, but he loved math and he dreamed about being a 
computer engineer.
  Four years later, in 2003, Carlos Martinez graduated with a bachelor 
of science degree in computer engineering and a minor in computer 
science, electrical engineering, and math. He was named the top 
Hispanic graduate in his class.
  For the record, Carlos Martinez did not qualify for 1 penny of 
Federal assistance to go to college, and you can imagine in Arizona 
probably not 1 penny of State assistance. But he made it through, 
graduating as the top Hispanic in his class from the University of 
Arizona. But after he graduated, reality set in. He received job offers 
from Intel, IBM, and a host of tech companies, but then they found out 
he was undocumented. He couldn't be hired.
  He didn't give up. He enrolled in the master's program for software 
systems engineering at the University of Arizona. He completed a 2\1/2\ 
year program in a year and a half.
  Carlos Martinez was also nominated for the University of Arizona 
Graduate School Centennial Award, given to the school's top graduate 
student.
  Carlos Martinez submitted his application for DACA when President 
Obama created this opportunity in August of 2012. The first day the 
forms were available, he was in line. He was one of the first to be 
approved. As soon as he received the notification he had been approved 
under this Executive order, Carlos Martinez went to a career fair at 
the University of Arizona and handed out his resumes to IBM, Intel, and 
other high-tech companies. Today Carlos Martinez is working for IBM. 
Out of more than 10,000 applicants for the job he filled, he was one of 
only 75 who were hired.
  Is America a better place to have that kind of educated individual 
working with good ideas, creating new products, expanding employment 
opportunities? Of course it is.
  So now the U.S. House of Representatives has decided the best thing 
for the

[[Page 884]]

future of America is to deport Carlos Martinez and deport those other 
young students who hold such potential for this country. That is the 
House Republican approach to immigration--deport Carlos Martinez.
  There are so many other DREAMers around this country with the same 
talents as Carlos. I want the American people to understand the human 
cost of the proposal that has been sent to us by the House of 
Representatives under Republican control. The House Republicans want to 
end DACA. Hundreds of thousands of people such as Carlos Martinez, 
protected by DACA, would be deported, and 1.5 million eligible to apply 
for DACA would never have that chance. It is shameless, shameless to 
play politics with the lives of nice young people who grew up in 
America and want to be part of our future, and it is so shortsighted.
  Will America be stronger if Carlos Martinez is gone? The House 
Republicans say yes, he should leave. After all of this investment, K-
12, bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona, the top graduate 
student in his master's program at that same university, the House 
Republicans say, ``Deport Carlos Martinez.'' They feel so strongly 
about this they are willing to hold up the appropriation for the 
Department of Homeland Security, the agency responsible for protecting 
our Nation.
  Let me be clear. Democrats are not going to be swayed by this 
blackmail. We will insist the Department of Homeland Security be 
properly funded to protect America and to do it now. This President 
made it clear he is ready to sign that bill, the sooner the better. 
Let's not assume that America has somehow been immunized or inoculated 
and never can be threatened again by terrorists. Let us properly fund 
the Department of Homeland Security, and let us not pursue that 
shameless agenda sent to us by the House Republicans. Let's remove 
these riders and give Carlos Martinez and thousands of others just like 
him a chance to be part of America's future.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________