[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19504-19506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, as you know, and many do, 16 years ago I 
introduced a bill called the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act was written to 
cover young people, brought to the United States by their parents, who 
have grown up in this country but do not have legal status. They are 
undocumented. Some of them don't learn that until they are in high 
school or later. They think they are Americans. They have gone to 
school with a lot of American kids. They pledge allegiance to the flag. 
They sing our national anthem. They truly believed they were Americans 
and didn't learn until later in life that they had overstayed their 
visas. Their parents had overstayed their visas, is probably a better 
description, and that has affected their legal situation.
  So I introduced this bill--a simple bill--that reads, if you have 
children in America who are caught up in that circumstance, we will 
give them a chance to get legal. They didn't make the decision to come 
here in the first place, but they ought to have a chance to become 
legal in America and become citizens. That is what the DREAM Act said, 
and we set up certain standards.
  How do you become legal in America?
  First, if you have a serious criminal record, goodbye. We don't want 
you. We don't need you. Second, if you are not going to finish school 
and are going to drop out, sorry, there is no future for you in this 
country--or a limited future. Third, would you consider serving in our 
U.S. military as a way of proving that you want to be a part of 
America's future? We set that up with the DREAM Act.
  Time passed, and we didn't pass the bill. One of my colleagues in the 
Senate went on to be elected President of the United States, Barack 
Obama.
  I reached out to him and asked: Mr. President, can you figure out a 
way to protect these young people who are subject to deportation 
through no fault of their own? He did. He came up with an Executive 
order called the DACA Program.
  Under the DACA Program, young people, like those I described, came 
forward. They paid a $500 filing fee, then went through a criminal 
background check to make sure they had no problems, and they submitted 
their information. Each of them was given a 2-year renewable protection 
plan so they could live in America, not be deported, and be able to 
legally work.
  What happened to those people? There were 780,000 of them who showed 
up, paid the fee, and got the protection under the DACA Program.
  Then came a Presidential campaign--the last one--in which Donald 
Trump, as candidate for President, said: I am going to get rid of this 
DACA Program. I think it is wrong. It never should have been done by 
Executive order.
  He said that and then was elected and set out to do it. Last 
September 5, he did just that. It was announced by the Attorney General 
of the United States. They said that by March 5 of 2018, the program 
would end.
  What it means is, today and every day, more and more of these 
protected young people fall out of protection--about 120 a day. There 
are 10,000 of them who were protected by DACA who can now be deported, 
and the number will continue to grow until March 5, when the President 
said the program should end--when 1,000 young people a day in America 
will lose DACA protection, be subject to deportation, and will not be 
able to legally work.
  When he eliminated the DACA Program on September 5, President Trump 
said to us: I challenge Congress. Do what you are supposed to do. Pass 
a law to take care of this.
  I accepted that challenge, and I joined with Senator Lindsey Graham, 
the Republican of South Carolina. We introduced the Dream Act. We are 
ready to pass the Dream Act. I think there are the votes on the floor 
to pass the Dream Act.
  Some of my Republican friends have said to me: We support it, but we 
want a show of good faith on your part that you will strengthen our 
border operations to reduce others from coming into this country.
  I said: Sign me up. As a Democrat, I will join with you as a 
Republican to fund things that are sensible, realistic, and effective 
to take our tax dollars and make our borders safer. I accept that.
  Now we are in a position in which the President's challenge has 
really come to the spot where we have to do something. We are going to 
leave here by December 22 to go home and enjoy the holidays. If we do 
not fix this problem before we leave, imagine what that will mean to 
these 780,000 young people. They don't know what their futures are 
going to hold.
  Who are they?
  There are 20,000 of them who teach in grade schools and middle 
schools and high schools across the United States--20,000 of these 
DACA-protected young

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people. When they lose their right to legally work in America, they are 
finished as teachers--finished, out the door. These are 20,000 teachers 
who could be lost.
  In addition, there are students who are in a pretty tricky situation. 
About 30 of them go to the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of 
Medicine in Chicago. They won the competition to be accepted at that 
medical school because Loyola, unlike other medical schools, said they 
will open competition to DACA-eligible people. Some of them are the 
most brilliant kids in America who never dreamed that, in being 
undocumented, they could make it to medical school. They have. They are 
doing well.
  There is a problem. You cannot finish medical school and move on to 
where you want to be unless you complete a residency after medical 
school. The residency is actually a job--a job involving a lot of hours 
in hospitals learning to be a doctor. All doctors go through it, and 
these medical students would go through it as well except, if they lose 
DACA protection, they cannot legally work; therefore, they cannot even 
apply to be residents and complete their medical educations. Our 
failure to act, our delay in acting, jeopardizes their medical 
educations.
  Do we have a surplus of doctors in the United States? No. The AMA 
tells us just the opposite. Across Illinois, I can point to communities 
downstate and to neighborhoods in the Chicago area that are desperately 
in need of doctors. Can we waste a medical student at Loyola's medical 
school because the Senate is just too darned busy to take it up?
  Does it look to the Presiding Officer like the Senate is too busy to 
take up an issue like this? The fact is, we have done precious little 
this year, and we have plenty of time. It is also a reality that a lot 
of people are watching carefully to see if we do our job.
  A long time ago, I started coming to the floor of the Senate, telling 
the story of these Dreamers--the stories of these people who are 
protected by DACA. I can give the greatest speech in the world, and 
people will yawn, but when I tell them the stories of these lives and 
these people, it changes the conversation. They come to understand who 
they are and why this is critically important. Today is kind of a 
milestone. This is the 100th story I have told on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate. They are all in the Congressional Record for those who want to 
take a look at them.
  It is the story of another one of these Dreamers. His story is 
particularly compelling. This is his photo.
  His name is Kyungmin Cho. Kyungmin Cho was 7 years old when his 
family brought him from Seoul, South Korea, to the United States. He 
grew up in New Jersey.
  From a young age, he was quite a good student and active in his 
community. In high school, he took multiple advanced placement courses. 
He was Vice President of the National Honor Society and president of 
his class. Here is a picture of him at his high school graduation. In 
high school, Kyungmin was a member of the Math and Science Academy and 
a member of the varsity track and field team. He was a volunteer at his 
church, and he taught summer school. At the same time, he was working 
over 40 hours a week.
  You see, these kids, these young people--Dreamers--don't get Federal 
Government loans or Pell Grants so they have to work extra time to get 
the money to go to school. He worked 40 hours a week in a restaurant to 
help support his family and pay for his education. Now he is a student 
at Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management. He is 
studying accounting in the Honors Program. He continues to work two 
restaurant jobs a week for nearly 40 hours to help his family, but, 
last year, something else happened that was significant in his life.
  Kyungmin Cho, an undocumented student in America, was allowed to 
enlist in the U.S. Army. The program he enlisted in is called The 
Military Accessions Vital to National Interest Program. It is known by 
the acronym MAVNI. This program allows immigrants like Kyungmin, with 
special skills ``vital to the national interest,'' to enlist in our 
Armed Forces. More than 900 DACA recipients with these skills, just 
like Kyungmin, have joined the military. They took the oath. They said 
they were willing to die for this country and serve in our military.
  Some Trump administration officials have claimed that DACA recipients 
are taking jobs away from Americans, but Kyungmin and hundreds of 
others have vital skills that our military just couldn't find in other 
places.
  Kyungmin, with many other Dreamers, is now waiting to ship out to 
basic training. He continues his undergraduate studies and works full 
time as he waits for a chance to serve the United States of America. He 
is willing to risk his life for a country that doesn't recognize him as 
a legal resident.
  He wrote me a letter, which reads:

       DACA means everything to me. It gives me the opportunity to 
     work and support myself. . . . It is with great pride that I 
     call myself American even though my status says otherwise.

  I recently visited the Phoenix Military Academy, one of the six 
military academies that is part of the Chicago Public School System. I 
am proud to say Chicago Public Schools hosts the largest Junior ROTC 
Program in America, with 10,000 cadets. You ought to see them marching 
at the Memorial Day Parade--just wave after wave of these uniformed, 
young high school students. It turns out that many of these cadets are 
Dreamers who want to do just what Kyungmin has done--volunteer to 
enlist in the U.S. military.
  How can you question this man's commitment to America if he is 
willing to die for this country? How many kids in high school would 
step up with that kind of courage? He has demonstrated, and others 
have, too, that they can give a lot to our country.
  Without DACA, if it ends March 5, it is over for Kyungmin and 900 
others who have volunteered to serve our Nation. They are finished. 
They cannot continue their service to America, even though the skills 
they bring are necessarily vital to our national interests. For the 
thousands of Junior ROTC cadets in Chicago who drill every day and take 
this seriously, it is over for them too. There is no avenue left for 
them to step forward and serve our Nation.
  Would America be better if we deported Kyungmin back to South Korea--
a country he may not even remember? Will we be a stronger country if we 
lose this kind of courage and this kind of commitment of a young man 
who is willing to risk his life for a country that does not legally 
recognize him as part of its population?
  In a few weeks, we are going to get to go home for the holidays. I am 
looking forward to it. I really am. It is a big holiday for my family, 
and I am sure it is for many others. Can we really go home and enjoy 
our families, knowing we have not answered the most basic question that 
the President said to us on September 5, when he asked: Can Congress 
act? Can you pass a law? Can you solve a problem? That is what it comes 
down to when it is DACA and the Dreamers.
  When I introduced the Dream Act with Senator Lindsey Graham, the 
Republican of South Carolina, he said: The moment of reckoning is 
coming.
  He is right. Lindsey is right. It is a moment of reckoning for this 
young man. More importantly, it is a moment of reckoning for this 
Senate as to whether we are serious about why we were elected. If we 
cannot solve this basic problem in a matter of days and weeks, shame on 
us. We are not overworked, for goodness' sake. We are just not inspired 
to do it at this point, and we need to be inspired to do it.
  We shouldn't do to this young man and to the thousands of others who 
count on us the unacceptable and walk away from our responsibility. Now 
is the time, before the end of this year, to let this young man know, 
when he is called to serve our country--and to proudly do so--that we 
have done everything we can to clear his path.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.

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