[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14593-14594]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, during the Presidential campaign, which 
just concluded, President-Elect Donald Trump made some inflammatory 
remarks about immigration and immigrants. I condemned those remarks, as 
did many in both political parties, and I remain concerned about the 
impact that rhetoric has on America and the people who are living in 
the United States.
  On election night, Mr. Trump said, ``Now it is time for America to 
bind the wounds of division.'' As one step in bringing our Nation 
together, Mr. Trump should change his thinking on at least one aspect 
of immigration, and I hope even more. As the President-elect knows, we 
are, in fact, a nation of immigrants, and immigration makes America 
stronger.
  Like me, Mr. Trump is the son of an immigrant. His wife will be only 
the second immigrant in American history to serve as First Lady. During 
a recent interview, Mr. Trump acknowledged that millions of 
undocumented immigrants are ``terrific people.'' That is a good start; 
words matter. The tone the President-elect sets with the language he 
uses can help to bind the divisions in America, but actions matter as 
well. I hope that one of President-Elect Trump's first actions will be 
to pledge to continue the program known as DACA.
  It was 6 years ago that I sent a letter to President Barack Obama, 
and joining me in that letter was Senator Dick Lugar, a Republican 
Senator from Indiana. It was a bipartisan letter, and we asked 
President Obama to stop the deportations of young immigrants who grew 
up in this country. These young people have come to be known as 
DREAMers. They were brought to the United States as children. They grew 
up singing the national anthem in their classrooms and pledging 
allegiance to the only flag they ever knew--the American flag.
  These DREAMers are casualties of our broken immigration system. They 
were brought here as children, toddlers, infants, babies. They didn't 
have any voice in the decision of their family to come to America. They 
were brought here to live. We invested in them. We put them in our 
school systems. It really makes no sense, since many of them have 
become accomplished and promising young people, to give up on them now 
and deport them back to countries they have never known.
  The President of the United States, Barack Obama, responded. He 
established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which 
is known as DACA. DACA provides temporary renewable legal status to 
immigrant students who arrived in the United States as children. What 
does it take? A student has to fill out an application form.
  When this Executive action went into effect, I joined with 
Congressman Luis Gutierrez of Chicago. We decided on the first day of 
eligibility we would set up some tables at the Navy Pier in Chicago, 
and we would welcome young people to come in and sign up. These were 
undocumented young people who had grown up in the United States, and 
now they had a chance because of the President's Executive action to 
ask for temporary protected status and a work permit.
  It cost money, almost $500. When they submitted their names, they 
also submitted their names for a criminal background check to make 
certain they had no serious criminal offense and they were no threat to 
this country. Congressman Gutierrez and I expected several hundred to 
show up. We had immigration lawyers ready to volunteer to help them 
fill out the forms.
  We were stunned. The night before, at midnight, they started lining 
up in the dark with their parents, and they waited all night to come 
into that room and to sign those applications so that they, as 
undocumented young people in America, would have a fighting chance to 
become part of America's future. That is all they asked for. They 
didn't ask for jobs. They didn't ask for government programs. They 
don't qualify for very many, if any. All they asked for was a chance--a 
chance to live here and not be deported and a chance to work here.
  So far, in the few years that DACA has been in effect, over 740,000 
young people have signed up. They came forward, paid their fees, and 
went through the background checks. They were approved. Now they are 
working or going to school.
  DACA has allowed these DREAMers to make contributions to America that 
are valuable to all of us. They are soldiers, nurses, teachers, 
engineers, police officers, and they are aspiring to the highest levels 
of education in our country. These DACA recipients are making important 
contributions to our economy.
  A new study by the Center for American Progress finds that ending 
DACA would cost the United States $433.4 billion in gross domestic 
product over the next 10 years. These are not just bright young 
students; they are great workers. They will be great professionals. 
They will help people, and they will make America stronger.
  DACA is based on the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act is bipartisan 
legislation that I first introduced 15 years ago. If you are going to 
serve in the Senate, you have to be patient. I didn't dream I would be 
standing here 15 years later, still asking for the Senate to approve 
the DREAM Act. In the meantime, what President Obama did was to say we 
will protect these young people while Congress debates the future of 
immigration reform, but we will make sure that they can stay in this 
country without fear of deportation.
  If the DREAM Act is enacted into law--and, incidentally, it passed 
the Senate several years ago--it will give these undocumented students 
a chance to earn their way to legal status and citizenship. DACA is 
clearly legal. Like every President before him, President Obama has the 
authority to set immigration policy for his administration. DACA is 
also smart and realistic. It is a way to enforce our immigration laws 
the right way, to make sure that these young people who have done 
nothing wrong, who have no criminal problems, who have paid their fee 
and registered with the government are allowed to stay without fear of 
a knock on the door.
  The Department of Homeland Security has only enough funding to deport 
a small fraction of the undocumented immigrants in our country each 
year. President Obama has said he wants to focus those resources on 
those who should not be in the United States, those who could do us 
harm. That is just common sense. At the same time, the President said 
we shouldn't waste our resources on deporting young immigrant students 
who grew up in the United States and are making contributions to our 
future.
  During the campaign, President-Elect Trump pledged to rescind and end 
DACA. I believe that after his administration studies the issue, there 
is a chance he will reconsider when he comes to know these ``terrific 
people.''
  I have come to the floor of the Senate now for over 10 years, telling 
the stories of these DREAMers. There was a time when they were afraid 
to come out publicly and tell America who they were. They had been 
warned by their parents since they were little kids to be careful. If 
you talk to the wrong person, if you do the wrong thing, if the police 
knock on the door, you may be deported along with the rest of your 
family, so be careful.
  As kids will, these young people across America have decided they are 
not going to hide who they are. They want to tell America their story, 
and I have tried to help them. When they have sent us their 
biographies, along with photographs, I have come to the floor on about 
a hundred different occasions to tell the stories of these DREAMers. 
Each one, in my estimation, is more amazing than the next, and today is 
no exception.
  This is Rey Pineda. In 1990, when Rey was 2 years old, his family 
came to the United States from Mexico. Rey grew up in Atlanta, GA. He 
worked hard and was an honor roll student in high school. He became the 
first member of his family to attend college. In 2010, he graduated 
with a major in philosophy from Southern Catholic College in 
Dawsonville, GA.

[[Page 14594]]

  Rey is a devout Catholic, and he decided to attend Mundelein Seminary 
in my home State of Illinois. Rey felt that God was calling him to be a 
priest, but his spiritual path was blocked. Rey is undocumented. Rey is 
a DREAMer.
  Then, in 2012, everything changed. President Obama's Executive action 
established DACA. In March of 2013, Rey was approved, filed his fee, 
went through the background check, and did everything he was asked to 
do. He received his DACA status, and he knew that at least for 2 years 
he would not be subject to deportation. That allowed him to become a 
deacon in the Catholic Church 2 months later, in May of 2013.
  In 2014, Rey entered the priesthood after he graduated magna cum 
laude from Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. He has a master of divinity 
degree. Today, Father Rey Pineda is a priest at the Cathedral of Christ 
the King in Atlanta, GA. He wrote me a letter, and here is what he said 
about DACA:

       Like many Dreamers, the U.S. is really the only country I 
     know. DACA was an answer to many years of prayers. Without 
     DACA I would not have been able to serve as a priest in my 
     community. I believe my faith in God has brought me to this 
     point in my life; but my faith in America's promise has 
     pushed me to keep fighting for peace, justice, and 
     opportunity in this great country I proudly call home.

  If DACA is eliminated--and that threat has been made--Father Rey 
Pineda will lose his legal status and be subject to deportation, being 
sent back to a country that he hasn't lived in since he was 2 years 
old. That would be a tragedy for Father Rey Pineda and his congregation 
and the hundreds of people who count on him as their priest.
  Consider this: There is a chronic shortage of Catholic priests in 
America. Since 1975, the number of priests has declined by 33 percent 
while the number of American Catholics has grown by 43 percent. 
Hundreds of parishes have been forced to close or consolidate. Nearly 
one out of five Catholic parishes in America have no priest.
  This shortage of priests is not limited to the Catholic Church. The 
problem is so serious that Congress has established a religious worker 
visa to allow people from overseas to come in on a visa and serve as 
priests in communities. It is happening all across my State of 
Illinois, and I bet it is happening in Iowa. If you go to parishes in 
rural areas, there will be priests from all over the world. I recently 
met one in Rome who was in Southern Illinois at Pinckneyville, and he 
was from Nigeria.
  At a time when the United States is actively importing ministers and 
priests from foreign countries, why do we want to deport Father Rey 
Pineda? This makes no sense. Listen to what Father Rey told me about 
his role as a priest who is an undocumented immigrant:

       I believe my entire journey has prepared me to be 
     compassionate with the sufferings of many people I encounter. 
     I look at my ministry as a calling to build bridges between 
     people from all walks of life. Diversity sometimes brings 
     challenges between people and I want to help heal those 
     differences.

  After the most divisive election in recent memory, I believe that 
Father Rey Pineda and other DREAMers like him have an important role to 
play in healing the differences that divide America. I am hoping that 
President-Elect Trump will see this and will continue the DACA program.
  Let me be clear. If there is an attempt to shut down DACA, I will do 
everything in my power as a U.S. Senator to protect the DREAMers who 
have stepped forward and contributed their talents to our great 
country.
  Many of those DREAMers and their parents spoke to me that day at Navy 
Pier and ever since. They said: Senator, are you sure? Are you sure 
that we should sign up with this government? We have spent a lifetime 
trying to stay out of trouble, stay out of the view of people, not 
cause any problems, go about our business, raise our families, do our 
jobs, go to our church. If our children register with this government, 
will that come back at a future time and be used against us?
  At the time, I said--and I believe it now--that America would stand 
behind these young people. We will not allow them to be deported after 
what they have been through. We will not tell them that by complying 
with the requirements of our government, you have penalized yourself in 
the future. We want to give them a chance. Now is the time for America, 
this Nation of immigrants, to heal the wounds that divided us during 
this election. Let's start with the DREAMers, let's start with DACA, 
let's start with the young people who will make America better and 
stronger in the years to come. They are the best in this country. Let's 
make them the best for America's future. I hope and pray the President-
elect's words and actions in the coming weeks and months will, in fact, 
bring us together.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. WARREN. Madam 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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