[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19500-19502]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, across the country, families are 
decorating their Christmas trees. They are singing along to holiday 
playlists. They are searching for that perfect gift for the ones they 
love. They are making travel plans to see their families. The holidays 
are a time for joy and togetherness, a time for faith and family, a 
time for gratitude and hope.
  The holidays are not a time for fear. Yet, without action, Congress 
may leave hundreds of thousands of families across America in fear this 
holiday season. I am referring, of course, to the 800,000 Dreamers 
across America whose lives have been thrown into jeopardy by the 
administration's decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood 
Arrivals Program, or DACA.
  DACA is a program that made it possible for 800,000 undocumented 
youth across this country--including 22,000 in my home State of New 
Jersey--to come out of the shadows, to step into the light, and to 
follow their dreams without fear of deportation.
  It has been months since this administration decided to end DACA. 
Despite what some of my Republican colleagues say, the consequences of 
this cruel and reckless decision are not some distant threat; more than 
11,000 Dreamers have already lost their DACA protections and work 
permits. So to anyone who thinks we have until March of next year to 
take action, you are surely mistaken. For these young people who grew 
up in the United States, who know no other home or country, who today 
live in fear of deportation, the crisis is here, and the crisis is now.
  Ending DACA has created a national emergency that is playing out in 
our communities each and every day. Tens of thousands of DACA 
recipients are likely to lose their status on or before March 5. So 
what exactly are we waiting for, and why wait at all?
  There is no legitimate reason for the President to have ended DACA--a 
crisis that was avoidable. Now it is here, and it is our job to fix it. 
President Trump essentially told Congress: The ball is in your court. 
Well, today I want to know from my colleagues: When are we going to 
take our shot? If we have the votes--and I believe we have the votes--
isn't it time that we held a vote?
  We know there is overwhelming support from the American people, 
Republicans and Democrats alike, for America's Dreamers. It is not fake 
news. Poll after poll, from Quinnipiac, to the Washington Post, to even 
FOX News, shows that the American people want a solution, and we know 
there is solid support for the Dream Act here in the Senate.
  I have seen my colleagues share the photos of the Dreamers they meet. 
They post the stories about these brave, young people fighting to stay 
in the country they know and love. But they deserve more than an 
Instagram post or a friendly tweet; they deserve action. Every day that 
goes by, more and more Dreamers find themselves in danger of being sent 
back to countries they simply don't know or even remember.
  Let's take a moment to remember exactly whose lives we are talking 
about when we talk about Dreamers. In my mind, we are talking about the 
``motherhood and apple pie'' of the immigrant community and the 
question

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of immigration. We are talking about young people brought here as 
children through no choice of their own. Every child who is a Dreamer 
is someone who knows only the United States of America as their 
country. The only flag they pledge allegiance to is the flag of the 
United States of America. The only national anthem they know is the 
``Star-Spangled Banner.'' These children grew up in America and are 
American in every sense of the word except on paper.
  Dreamers are studying in our colleges, playing on our sports teams, 
serving in uniform in our military, risking their lives on behalf of 
what they consider to be their country, growing our economy, obeying 
our laws, and most of all, loving our country, too, because it is their 
country as well. They aren't undocumented aliens; they are Americans 
who happen to be undocumented. And that includes 22,000 Dreamers in my 
home State of New Jersey, promising students like Sara Mora, whom you 
see pictured here on the floor.
  Sara grew up in Hillside, NJ. Her parents brought her to this country 
from Costa Rica at the age of 3. She was 3 years old. As Sara recently 
wrote in the Star Ledger, ``New Jersey has been my home for as long as 
I can remember.'' Today, she is a hard-working college student, thanks 
to DACA. That is how she was able to get a work permit, find a job, and 
work her way through Union County College. Sara was preparing her 
applications to transfer to Seton Hall University and earn her 4-year 
degree when the Trump administration announced the end of DACA. Now, 
Sara says, her future is one ``big question mark. Without DACA, I'll go 
back to zero--no driver's license, no job, no possibility of paying for 
my education. I'll have to wake up fearing deportation every day.''
  When will we accept some responsibility and recognize that it is our 
inaction here in the Senate that contributes to Sara's fear every day?
  Take Adriana Gonzalez of Toms River, NJ. As the Asbury Park Press 
recently wrote, Adriana is ``a flute player, a student ambassador, a 
girl who would play soccer with special needs children.'' Like most 
Dreamers, Adriana isn't known by her peers as an undocumented 
immigrant; she is known as a smart young woman with a bright future and 
something to contribute to her community.
  How about Reiniero Amaya of Elizabeth, NJ. He is studying civil 
engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University. I can't think of 
anything more backward than deporting a hard-working student who dreams 
of becoming a civil engineer. We need civil engineers. We give people 
from different parts of the world permits to come to the United States 
to do these engineering jobs that we don't have enough domestic people 
to do. Here is a young man who grew up in America, who is American in 
every respect, and who is, in essence, pursuing a career path that 
would inure to the national economic interest. His story is just one 
more reminder that our country can't afford to lose America's Dreamers. 
They have so much to offer to our communities and our economy.
  In fact, ending DACA is projected to cost New Jersey's economy over 
$1.5 billion annually and reduce the overall economy of the United 
States by $460 billion over the next decade.
  DACA gave Dreamers like Reiniero the freedom to pursue his dreams. 
But it also gave him a sense of security. He recently wrote this on 
northjersey.com:

       The day I received my work permit and my Social Security 
     card was the day I finally felt proud of who I am. I felt 
     recognized. I felt safe.

  That sense of belonging, of acceptance, and of safety was ripped away 
by the President's decision to end DACA. So long as Congress fails to 
act, we are complicit in prolonging the very real fear that 800,000 
Dreamers feel today--the fear that the knock on the door is not your 
family or neighbor but an immigration agent ready to whisk you away 
from your family; the fear that we see when these young people who 
believed in our government came forth, went through a criminal 
background check, gave all their information, and gave information on 
their family, all under the guise that they thought it was going to be 
confidential. Now all of that is at risk.
  The willingness of DACA recipients to share their stories speaks 
volumes about their integrity, their courage, and the trust they put in 
us as elected officials. I am reminded of Psalm 56:3: ``When I am 
afraid, I put my trust in You.''
  Well, Dreamers like Sara, Adriana, and Reiniero put their trust in 
the United States of America when they applied for DACA. They came out 
of the shadows. They registered with the Department of Homeland 
Security. They passed criminal background checks. They handed over 
personal details about themselves and their families to authorities 
they had been forced to hide for their entire lives.
  DACA recipients went through all of this to get a 2-year renewable 
work permit and the promise of protection from deportation. That is the 
limited bargain they made, and the administration has eviscerated that 
limited promise and struck fear in the hearts of all of these families.
  So I ask my colleagues--Democrats and Republicans--was their faith, 
their trust, their belief in the U.S. Government's word a monumental 
mistake? Were they wrong to believe that we could put partisan politics 
aside and come together and do the right thing in this case? Will the 
Senate go home for the holidays without lifting a finger to make sure 
these promising young students feel safe in their homes, in their 
schools, in their communities?
  They have become an integral part of our American family, and many 
are starting families of their own. In fact, 25 percent of DACA 
recipients have U.S.-born children. Do we really want these young 
mothers and fathers to be torn from their children and sent back to the 
country that they never called home? Do we not have an obligation to 
protect American children from the trauma of losing a parent? Do we not 
have a moral responsibility to keep families together? Isn't that one 
of the basic concepts that we have?
  Will we sit idly by with the implementation of the administration's 
policy, which says: Whether you are selling drugs in your streets--
which I am all for deporting--or earning A's in our classrooms or 
serving in our military, everyone is fair game for deportation. No one 
is safe, not even children who know no other home. That is a wrong 
policy. That is not law and order. That is fear and chaos.
  So where is our compassion and our sense of urgency? How many more 
Dreamers have to lose their DACA status before we stand up and do what 
is right? The time for temporary fixes is over. The time for empty 
gestures is over. The time for heartfelt words is over.
  It is time for us to stand up for these young people, and it is time 
for us to act. It is time for us--Democrats and Republicans--to use 
whatever legislative vehicle is necessary to pass the Dream Act. 
Whether it is a continuing resolution or a straight vote here on the 
floor, it is time for us to get this done.
  Let's put an end to the fear and uncertainty hanging over so many 
families this holiday season. Let's summon our collective compassion. 
Let's pass the Dream Act. Let's do it now. Let Congress not go home for 
the holidays unless we have a solution to this question. For me, it is 
a moral imperative that these young people, who know no other country 
but the United States and who are Americans in every other sense of the 
word, not have to live this holiday season in the fear that a knock on 
the door is from someone other than a family member or their neighbor.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. 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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