[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20327]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                  DACA

  Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, I rise to speak about an urgent 
crisis that Congress must solve now for nearly 800,000 Dreamers in this 
country. I am proud to represent New York State in the U.S. Senate. One 
of the things I am most proud of is that my State is home to tens of 
thousands of Dreamers--tens of thousands of young people who have never 
known any other country as home but this one.
  When President Trump announced that he wanted to end the DACA 
Program, it was one of the most inhumane actions of his entire 
Presidency. Let me be clear about what ending DACA will do. Ending DACA 
will force thousands of Dreamers to lose their jobs. It will force them 
to go into hiding. It will force them to have to make the unimaginable 
choice between staying here undocumented or being forced out of the 
United States.
  I ask my colleagues, are you really OK with letting that happen when 
you personally have the power to prevent it from happening right now? 
Attacking Dreamers like this goes against our most basic values as 
Americans, our most basic sense of right versus wrong.
  I know this Chamber is divided about how to fix our broken 
immigration system, but just for a second, forget about ideology and 
think about what it actually means for these young people who have 
spent their entire lives here. They are waiting and wondering if 
Congress actually has the guts to stand up to President Trump and do 
what is right.
  If the President will not lead, then Congress must lead, and we need 
to lead now. We have to protect our Dreamers, and we need to pass the 
Dream Act.
  Most of all, we should never allow our Dreamers to be used as 
political pawns. We should simply do what both parties have said is the 
right thing to do, which is to pass the Dream Act. This is a matter of 
basic human rights and human dignity. It is about people's lives, and I 
am not going to compromise on that.
  Mr. President, are you willing to compromise on that?
  We need to fix this problem, and we don't have a lot of time to do 
it. Every week that Congress refuses to take action, more Dreamers lose 
their DACA status. Very soon, we are going to have to pass a long-term 
spending bill just to keep the government running, but the Republican 
leadership has not yet committed to including a provision in the bill 
to protect our Dreamers.
  I want to say this very clearly: If my Republican colleagues refuse 
to do the right thing and protect our Dreamers in the upcoming long-
term spending bill, I will vote no. I will ask my colleagues to join me 
in this fight. I will ask all of them to see that this issue is not a 
political question. It is a basic question of whether or not we are a 
country that protects children.
  I am never going to compromise when it comes to our Dreamers, not 
when their lives are literally hanging in the balance. Time is 
desperately running out. I urge my colleagues to do what is right. We 
must protect the Dreamers.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ISAKSON. 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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