National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise to acknowledge the third anniversary of the Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals--the DACA Program--as many of my colleagues have over the past few days.

The DACA Program was created because our government faced an impractical mandate to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented children who pose no risk to society. Congress, thus far, has been unable to solve the problem. Despite the very good bipartisan efforts that occurred in this body back in 2013, we have been unable to pass any meaningful immigration reform. Why? Well, a group from the far right in the House of Representatives oppose immigration reform at all costs and have sort of tied Speaker Boehner into knots so he can't bring anything to the floor.

So 3 years ago, with no choice, President Obama moved forward on his own to shield children who were brought to this country through no fault of their own. They were brought by their parents when they were very young, most of them; children who have lived here for many years and know no other country as their own, children who are in our school system and dreaming of getting a college degree in America.

The President created DACA, a temporary program modeled on the DREAM Act, which is a vital component of comprehensive immigration reform. As I said, we couldn't get immigration reform, unfortunately. That would have been the best way to go, and I am still hopeful that will happen at some point in time. But doing what the President did was the humane and practical thing to do because the House couldn't do anything. What choice was there? Leave these kids here through no fault of their own in total limbo? That was not the right thing to do. So we hope this is a policy Congress will implement into law at some point, but right now, of course, as I mentioned, the House is hog-tied.

In the 3 short years since its inception, the DACA Program has deferred deportations for over one-half million young DREAMers. In New York, nearly 34,000 have been approved for DACA. Of those 34,000, there is a girl named Kirssy Martinez from New York City. Kirssy came to our country from the Dominican Republic in 2002, and she attended high school in New York City.

After graduating, Kirssy lived in the shadows, working small jobs here and there as a waitress, a babysitter, whatever she could do to make ends meet. She was a good student coming out of high school. She even had a few scholarship offers but couldn't attend college because she didn't have a green card and, moreover, she didn't have the means to afford a college education.

In 2012, Kirssy was one of the first to sign up for DACA. With her new temporary legal status, she was able to enroll in Bronx Community College. She got loans to pay for her first semester. She had to drop out once the loans ran out. She scraped together more funding from TheDream.US scholarship that provides tuition assistance to DREAMers at CUNY schools.

Now Kirssy is 26 years old. I met her at her graduation at Bronx Community College. She was covaledictorian of her class with a perfect 4.0 average.

These are the kinds of kids we are talking about. They want to be Americans. They want to get out of the shadows. They want to live productive, full lives. They do not want a handout. They want to be able to be on their own. That is what Kirssy did. I met her, and I was so proud of her.

Kirssy has realized a DREAMers dream because of both her hard work and the President's DACA Program, which helped bring her out of the shadows. There are many more in New York and around the country just like her.

The sad truth is that instead of harnessing the potential and the contributions these young people could make, instead of welcoming them as full-fledged members of our society, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to repeal the DACA Program. With these votes, House Republicans have made it clear they want to deport these DREAMers.

Many of the DREAMers have a sibling who may have been born in the United States and is a citizen of the United States or a parent who may have a green card. House Republicans have no qualms about tearing these families apart. They have no qualms what it could cost us as a nation to lose these young people.

If you look at the workforce in America, it is different than Europe in that we do have enough young people who want to work to help support those who are in retirement or on disability--but not if our House Republicans have their way.

In my home State of New York, DREAMers like Kirssy are doing amazing things. They are studying medicine, they are working at startup tech companies and more. If Republicans in the House have their way, these talented people would be putting their skills to use to compete against us rather than working to make America stronger.

Like the millions who came here before them--like the ancestors of our Presiding Officer and my ancestors--they came here because they want to be Americans, not because they want to get a benefit, not because they want to be a leach on society. They want to be a full-fledged, productive member of society. Somehow these folks in the House--and I don't even know if they know who these kids are--want to stop that from happening.

As we recognize this anniversary, we should remember the real human stories behind the DACA Program and think how our Nation could be made better by sensible immigration reform now.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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