DACA

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, 15 years ago, a woman contacted my office in Chicago because she had a problem. It turned out that her daughter, who was about 17 years old or 18 years old at the time, had an extraordinary musical talent and had been accepted as a student at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as at the Juilliard School in New York.

The problem was that her daughter was undocumented. She brought her little girl to the United States at the age of 2. This Korean girl, Tereza Lee, was raised in the United States by a family of very modest means, but she showed extraordinary talent at music, so much so that she was accepted at these great schools.

When she went to fill out the application form and they asked for her nationality or citizenship status, she turned to her mother and said: What should I put here?

Her mother said: Well, I never filed any papers after we brought you to this country, so I don't know.
They called our office. The law was very clear. This young girl, who for 15 or 16 years had grown up in Chicago in modest circumstances, gone to school, done well, and excelled in her music, was in fact undocumented. Under the law of the United States of America, the only recourse for her--and it is still the case--was to leave this country for 10 years and apply to come back.

I thought to myself: This little girl had nothing to say when the family decided to move to the United States when she was 2 years of age. She wasn't consulted. She didn't make a conscious decision. She, in fact, did everything she was expected to do in her life. She grew up believing that she would be in America, that she would be part of this country's future, but she has this undocumented status, an uncertain status.

That is why, 15 years ago, I introduced the DREAM Act. It said to young women and men such as Tereza Lee: We will give you a chance. If you were brought to the United States as a child, you have gone through school and done well, and you have no serious criminal issues that worry us, we will give you a chance to earn your way into legal status and ultimately citizenship.

The DREAM Act was introduced 15 years ago. Over the last 15 years, it has passed in the House some years and in the Senate in other years. It has never become the law of the land. It was a few years ago that I wrote a letter to then-President Obama--still President Obama--and asked him, as a cosponsor of my DREAM Act, could he do something to help these young people who were fearful they were going to be deported.

Republican Senator Lugar of Indiana joined me in the letter, and later some 20 other Senators joined as well.
President Obama studied it and asked his Attorney General and others to find a path, and he created an Executive action. That Executive action allows those who have been in a status such as Tereza Lee's a chance under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or the DACA Program, to sign up with the government, to register with the government, to pay a filing fee of almost $500, and to go through a criminal background check. For that, if approved, they receive a 2-year temporary and renewable status. That status would allow them to stay in the United States without fear of deportation and would allow them to work.

Since the President's Executive action was launched, some 744,000 young people have taken advantage of it.

Many of their parents warned them. They said: Be careful. If you sign up with this government and tell them you are not here legally, they might use it against you.

Some of those students, young people, and their parents came to me with that concern. I said to them: As long as you are following the law, as long as you are paying the fee, submitting yourself to a criminal background check, and understand this is only a temporary situation that can be renewed, do it. Be part of America. Be part of obeying the law, following the law, and, ultimately, I think it will be to your benefit.

When I gave that advice, I could not have imagined that we would be facing a new President in just a few weeks with a totally different view on immigration. That President-elect, Donald Trump, has said some very hurtful and divisive things about immigration during the course of his campaign. Fortunately for us, it appears he is reflecting on those statements now, and some of those he is modifying, if not changing.

I hope he will do the same when it comes to this. These 744,000 DACA-eligible persons who are currently in the program, as well as others, should be given their chance in America. As long as they are no threat to our country, we should capitalize on their talents, on the education that they have received that we paid for, and give them a chance to make America better.

I have stood on the floor many times--and I will today--to tell the story of just one of these students. It is one thing to talk about what they might bring to this country, and it is another thing to get to know them a little bit.

This is a photograph of Yuri Hernandez. Yuri was 3 years old when her family brought her to the United States from Mexico. She grew up in Coos Bay, OR. In high school she was an honor roll student and was active in her community. She was an active member of the Key Club and the Kiwanis service program for students. She was voted homecoming princess of her high school and jubilee princess of Coos Bay.

She attended the University of Portland, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work. She received numerous awards and was involved in many extracurricular and volunteer activities. She was vice president of the Social Work Club, a board member of the National Association of Social Workers, and a member of Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans.

When you hear about her record in college and what she has achieved, remember this: This young lady did not qualify for one penny of Federal assistance. Because she is undocumented, because she is a DREAMer, she was ineligible for the things that many students take for granted in America, such as Pell grants and government loans.

Yuri had to find another way to do this. She had to work her way through school, borrowing money from parents. She faced hardships that many students don't face, but she overcame them. That speaks to her, her character, and her determination.

She volunteered as a tutor for at-risk elementary school students. During her senior year in college, she was a full-time student and a full-time worker to pay for her college education.

Do we need persons in America such as Yuri--so determined, so committed to their future that they are willing to make sacrifices many students don't make? Of course we do.

Yuri is now a graduate student at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Again, she doesn't qualify for any government assistance to go to school. She is planning on a graduate degree, a master's in social work, in the fall of 2017, and she still finds time to tutor and mentor high school students.

She wants to give back to America. She wrote a letter to me about the DACA Program and said:

DACA opened a lot of doors. I no longer wake up every day fearing that I could be picked up and deported [out of the United States]. . . . DACA changed my life completely and allowed me to use my education.

Would America be better if Yuri were deported, if she were sent away from this country to a country she has never known, one from which she was taken away when she was a child of 3 years of age? I think the answer is obvious.

For her and for thousands such as her, this is a moment of testing.

Will we in the United States of America, this Nation of diverse immigrants, this diverse Nation that believes in fairness and justice, give to those DREAMers, those DACA recipients, their chance to prove themselves? Will we hold these children responsible for decisions made by their parents or will we give them their own chance in life? Over the last few weeks, I have been home in Illinois, and I have talked to a lot of people who have come to know these DACA recipients and DREAMers. Many of these young people are despondent. With the new President, they are afraid they are going to lose any protection they currently have from deportation. Some of them have been driven to despair. Some have decided to leave the country, and, in some rare cases, there have been cases of suicide from their despondency.

We can do better, America. We can say to these young people that, while Congress debates immigration and its future, we are going to make certain they are not penalized and hurt in the process.

For Yuri and thousands just like her, we owe it to them to give them their chance.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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