[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8867-8868]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                              DACA PROGRAM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, today marks the fourth anniversary of 
President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program. Four 
years ago today, President Obama announced that young people--
DREAMers--who do not present a risk to national security may become 
eligible for temporary protection from deportation. Since that day, 
over 730,000 DREAMers no longer live in fear of deportation. More than 
12,000 of these young men and women are in Nevada, and they have been 
protected by this program. They are our newest college students, 
teachers, engineers, small business owners, and they have contributed 
enormously to our communities, making America better. Because of the 
President's program, the authorities can sensibly prioritize those who 
do present a threat to our safety and our country.
  What a shame that Donald Trump and his Republican supporters in the 
Senate want to deport these kids who know no other country than the 
USA. In my morning briefing this morning, I heard that the House is 
going to do something really unique today. They have a measure not to 
allow these young men and women to serve in the United States military.
  It doesn't matter what you do, you can't be mean enough using the 
Republicans' playbook. There have been efforts made, votes taken to 
rescind what the President did. There have been efforts made to make 
sure there is no money in the Immigration and Naturalization Service to 
expedite the processing of these young men and women to become 
legitimate in the only country they know.
  These are the same Republican Senators who last year were willing to 
shut down the Department of Homeland Security--stop it. Why? They 
wanted to stop this program. These are the same Republican Senators who 
insist on eliminating the Constitution's guarantee of birthright 
citizenship, ending family-based immigration and deporting hard-working 
families.
  It is because of what has happened by Republicans in the Congress 
that we are now faced with Donald Trump. We are here because of what 
the Republicans in Congress have done. Look at the Senate. Who was the 
leader initially of birthright citizenship? President Obama was not 
born in America; he was born in Africa. Everybody should know that. He 
is an illegitimate President.
  Republicans in Congress have made Donald Trump legitimate--to some, 
but not to us.
  So I look forward to the day when programs like DACA are replaced 
with permanent, comprehensive immigration reform. It needs to be done. 
It is long overdue. I am hopeful the Supreme Court builds DACA's 
success when their opinion is rendered over the next few weeks, which 
could extend the same protection to the parents of DREAMers that the 
DREAMers have.
  Mr. President, I would ask the Chair to announce the business of the 
day.

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