[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 7205-7207]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DACA AND DAPA PROGRAMS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 14 years ago, I introduced a bill known as 
the DREAM Act. My friend and colleague Senator Leahy was the chairman 
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and for the last 14 years we have 
tried to pass this basic law, and here is what it says: If you were 
brought to the United States as a child, and you were undocumented in 
America, but you have lived here without committing any serious crime 
and finished high school, we will give you a chance. If you will agree 
to at least complete 2 years of college or enlist in America's 
military, we will give you a path to citizenship.
  I offered this legislation because so many young people--about 2\1/2\ 
million--living in this country were brought here when they were 
infants, small children. They didn't have any voice in the matter, 
their parents decided. They came to the United States. They have lived 
here as Americans. They stood in their classroom every single day and 
put their hand on their heart and pledged allegiance to that flag. That 
was their flag. What they didn't know or didn't understand was that 
they were undocumented. They don't have a country. The laws of the 
United States are very clear. If you are one of those people, you have 
to leave. You have to leave for at least 10 years and then apply to 
come back in. I didn't think that was fair.
  I introduced the DREAM Act. In fact, I had the support of the senior 
Senator from Utah as my cosponsor when I first introduced it. We could 
not pass it and make it the law of the land. So the day came when I 
appealed to the President of the United States, my former colleague 
from the Senate and the State of Illinois. He was a sponsor of the 
DREAM Act. I appealed to the President to give these young people a 
chance. He took his power as President and issued an Executive order, 
and that Executive order said that if these young people would come 
forward, pay a substantial fee for processing, show that they have no 
serious criminal record and can show they had come to the United States 
years before, they would be given a chance to stay without fear of 
deportation. It is called DACA.
  Well, the President waited and challenged Congress to do something 
about it--pass the DREAM Act, pass comprehensive immigration reform. 
Even though it passed in the Senate, with 68 votes on a bipartisan 
rollcall vote, the

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Republican House of Representatives refused to even call the measure 
for a vote.
  One year passed, 2 years have passed, and here we are--no action by 
the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives or, for that 
matter, in the Senate to move comprehensive immigration reform. The 
President said: I am going to step up with my power as President and do 
what I can to deal with this issue. He said: Let's have some standards. 
I will not allow anyone to step forward and ask for temporary status in 
this country unless they have been here at least 5 years. If they step 
forward, they have to pay a filing fee for us to process their 
application, and they have to submit themselves to a criminal and 
national security background check. We don't want anybody in this 
country who is a danger to America. If they flunk that part of the 
test, they are finished and deported. And then they have to put their 
names on the books to pay their taxes in the United States of America 
while they are working. Under those circumstances, we will give them 
the temporary renewable right to stay and work without fear of 
deportation, and then several years later repeat it, submit an 
application again. The President believes, and I share the belief, we 
will be a safer nation if we do that.
  There could be as many as 11 million undocumented people in this 
country who would qualify for what we call DAPA. They would have to pay 
a fee, pay their taxes, go through this background check, and be 
subject to renewal on a regular basis.
  Well, today, May 19, 2015, was supposed to be the first day people 
would be allowed to apply for this new program--this DAPA Program, but 
unfortunately it has been stopped cold. It has been stopped by the 
Republican Party in the House and Senate and stopped by their efforts 
in court to stop this President. Oh, they have an alternative. They 
stated their alternative. Their alternative is for these people to 
leave the United States. Their candidate for President, Governor 
Romney, said as much when he ran last time. They have no alternative 
plan. They want these people--millions of them--to leave the United 
States through voluntary deportation, as they call it.
  Well, the sad reality is that is not going to happen, and obviously 
the Republicans are not going to do anything to deal with our broken 
immigration system. There are casualties with this decision. One of 
them is Naomi Florentino. This attractive young woman was brought to 
the United States from Mexico when she was 10 years old. She grew up in 
Smyrna, TN. She was an amazing student and active in her community.
  In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, and 
she received the Student of the Year Awards for algebra and art. She 
served on the student council and played on the varsity soccer and 
track and field teams, where she was a shot-putter and discus thrower.
  Naomi's dream is to become a robotics engineer. In high school, she 
was a member of the robotics team, participated in NASA's Science, 
Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy, and she performed so 
well she won the Next Generation Pioneer Award. Naomi graduated from 
high school with an honor's diploma, but Naomi's immigration status 
limited her options. The college counselor refused to help. The college 
counselor at her high school told her that since she was undocumented, 
she was on her own.
  She didn't quit. She took mechanical engineering courses at Lipscomb 
University in Nashville. She then went on to community college. These 
undocumented kids cannot get help while they are going to school. They 
do not qualify for the Pell grant or government loans. She was 
determined. She was not going to quit.
  At the community college, where she will be graduating this spring, 
she has an associate's degree in mechatronics technology, a field that 
combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, 
telecommunications engineering, control engineering, and computer 
engineering. This fall Naomi will begin to work on her bachelor's 
degree in engineering at Middle Tennessee State University. Remember 
what I said. She is on her own. She gets no help from the government to 
do this because she is undocumented.
  In her spare time--if you can imagine she has any--she continues to 
be very involved in her community. For 6 years, she was judge and 
mentor in engineering and robotics competitions. Since 2008, she has 
volunteered as a college mentor with the YMCA Latino Achievers Program 
in Tennessee. Despite everything this young woman has achieved in her 
life, her future is totally uncertain.
  In 2012, President Obama said that under the DACA Program we are 
going to protect Naomi, and people just like her, from deportation. We 
will not give her government assistance to go to school, but at least 
she knows she will not be deported as long as she passes the test I 
mentioned earlier.
  She is now part of the work-study program at Nissan North America's 
Smyrna, TN, plant. They want her. Wouldn't you? This is the largest 
automotive manufacturing plant in the United States.
  As a maintenance intern, she assists with troubleshooting on their 
most
sophisticated equipment--this young lady with 2 years of community 
college.
  She wrote me a letter, and here is what she said about the DACA 
Program:

       DACA has meant the opportunity of a lifetime for my 
     academic and professional career. As a student at Smyrna High 
     School, driving past the Nissan plant motivated me to be a 
     better student--with hopes of, one day, being part of a 
     company that is highly-regarded in my community. However, 
     without proper work authorization, that goal seemed far-
     fetched. Today, it is a reality for me. I have learned that, 
     given the opportunity, hard work, patience and perseverance 
     can pay off.

  Naomi and 600,000 DREAMers like her have stepped forward under 
President Obama's program. They are not going to be given any kind of 
award. They will just be given a chance.
  I don't understand the Republican point of view. The Republicans 
would have us deport this young woman. Their attitude is: Send her back 
to Mexico. We don't need her.
  She, unfortunately, came here because her parents decided to bring 
her here, and now she has to pay the price for her parents' decision. 
Is that what America is all about? Is that what our system of justice 
is all about?
  Naomi will be an important part of our future, and thousands like her 
deserve that chance. That is why today is a sad day. The President's 
efforts to extend this program and help others--parents of young 
DREAMers like this have been stopped cold by the courts and stopped 
cold by the Republican leadership.
  President Abraham Lincoln once said, ``We cannot escape history,'' 
and history is very clear, we are a nation of immigrants. My mother was 
an immigrant to this country, and I stand here today as a Senator from 
the great State of Illinois. I am very proud of what she and her family 
did when she came to this country.
  Let us reward those who are willing to come to America to work and 
make it better. Let us give these young people a chance. Let us, once 
and for all, say this Nation of immigrants is proud of our heritage and 
prouder still of what immigrants can mean to our future.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I just wish to praise the senior Senator 
from Illinois. He has been consistent on this issue since he came here. 
He was one of the architects of a major overhaul of our immigration 
system a year and a half ago, which passed by a two-thirds majority, by 
Republicans and Democrats alike.
  We have gone such a long way toward solving this problem. The 
Republican leadership in the House--even though the votes were there to 
pass it in the House--refused to bring it up.
  I am proud to align myself as a follower of the leadership of the 
Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, on this issue.
  With the way we apply the laws now, I wonder whether my grandparents

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would have been able to come to Vermont from Italy and see their 
grandson become a U.S. Senator or would have seen their highly 
decorated son serve in World War II. I wonder if my wife's parents 
would have been able to come from Canada so she could be born in 
Vermont.
  Come on. We are a nation of immigrants. Let's welcome them. They can 
often make our country much stronger than it was before.
  I applaud the Senator from Illinois.

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