DACA

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, there are many disagreements in this Chamber and between the House and the Senate, but I think there is one thing we fundamentally agree on. Our system of immigration in this country is broken. There are many different ways to approach it in changing it, improving it, and fixing it, but most of us concede something is wrong. If we have 11 to 12 million people living in the United States who are not documented or not legal, by our definition-- and that has been going on for years, sometimes decades--it raises a serious question about whether our immigration system works, whether it is responsive, and whether it serves the best interests of the United States.

Many of the people who are here once came to the United States on visitors' visas that they were supposed to ultimately see come to an end and leave, but they stayed. They got married. They had children in the United States who became citizens. Those who think that families represent the large share of undocumented people don't take a look at the families individually. They should. You may find in one household of a mother, father, and two or three children that only one person is undocumented, and it might be the mother.

The one thing we also came to discover was that there were many people here who were undocumented, technically illegal under our system, and they were in that condition through no fault of their own.

Well, who could that be? Children--children who were brought here as toddlers, infants, small kids, and brought in with their families. They had no voice in the decision to come to America, but the family did, and they grew up here. Some of them came at a very early age. They didn't speak the language of their original country. They never visited that country.

From the start, they thought they were Americans. They went to school, went to class, put their hands over their hearts and pledged allegiance to the only flag they ever knew. They sang the only national anthem they really knew, and they believed they were Americans. At some point in their lives, maybe someone in the household said: Let me tell you a stark truth here: You are not legal by this Nation's standards.

It was because of that group that I introduced a bill 15 years ago called the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act really defined this category of people who are undocumented, were brought here as children, grew up in America, graduated from our schools, and didn't create any criminal record in their lifetime, and they were hoping and praying that they would get a chance to stay in a legal status as citizens. That is what the DREAM Act was all about. It is just for these--they have come to be known as DREAMers--who came here as children and infants, to be given that choice.

It was a few years ago that I wrote a letter to President Obama-- signed by Senator Lugar of Indiana, a Republican, who shared my feelings--and asked the President if he could do something to protect these young people from being deported. We had a number of Senators join me in a subsequent letter, and the President acted, creating something called DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.

What it boiled down to was that, if these undocumented young people who came here as young children would step forward, identify themselves to our government, pay about $500 in a filing fee, and go through a criminal background check, we would give them a 2-year temporary protection from being deported and give them a temporary right to work in this country.

The DACA Program turned out to be a big success as 740,000 young people were eligible, signed up, and were cleared to be approved for this DACA status.

Then came a change in administrations, which will happen in just a few weeks. Questions started being raised. What is going to happen to these young people--the ones who complied with the law as they were told it existed, who did a risky thing in identifying themselves to a government, paid their fee, went through the background check, and now are in the United States? I have met so many of them--thousands of them across this country, the DREAMers, those who are DACA eligible, those who are DACA approved. They are amazing stories.

At the Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, they decided to open a competition in their medical school to allow these DACA-eligibles to apply--not to give them a special number of billets or positions in the school but to say: You can apply with everyone else.

For many of these young people from across the United States who dreamed of being a doctor one day, this was the answer to a prayer, and they were ready for it. They competed and they won. I believe there are about 25, maybe more, who are currently medical students at Loyola in Chicago aspiring to be doctors. Now their life is complicated. They can't borrow money from the government to go to school. They are not eligible for any Federal assistance because they are technically undocumented.

So we created a program through our State where they would be able to borrow the money to go to school on one condition; for every year of schooling that is provided by these loans, they have to pledge 1 year as doctors to serve in underserved areas of our State, whether it is in the inner city or the rural areas.

So here are, at the moment, 25 aspiring DREAMers in the Loyola School of Medicine who will be giving us years of service in underserved communities in our State. Is that good for Illinois? Is it good for America? You bet it is. I am from downstate Illinois. There are many rural towns in our State that would beg for these doctors to come in so they can keep a local hospital open so they can have good medical talent when they need it.

These DREAMers, who are now protected DACA today, are questioning what their future will be with a new President. There were some powerful words spoken during the course of this campaign about immigration, but I am heartened by the fact that President-Elect Trump, after the election, said he wanted to try to bind the wounds of this country. When asked specifically about immigrants, after some of the harsh things he said during the campaign, he said many of these immigrants are terrific people.

Well, let me say to the President-elect, if you are looking for terrific people when it comes to immigrants, take a look at these DACA young people, take a look at these DREAMers. They are amazing.

I believe I have come to the floor 100 times, maybe more, to tell these DREAMer stories because it is one thing, as I have just done, to describe them in general, but it is another thing to get to meet them.
Some of these young people have had the courage to step up and say: You can tell my story. I will send you a photo.

The story of one today is of Valentina Garcia Gonzalez. Valentina was 6 years old when her family brought her to the United States from Uruguay in South America. She grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA. A very bright child, she learned English quickly. She said:

After that, I became my parents' right hand. Everything and anything that involved speaking to the outside world meant I was in the front, translating and representing my parents. It was a lot of responsibility for a young undocumented kid.

In addition to this responsibility, Valentina turned out to be quite a good student. In middle school she received the President's Education Award not once but twice--once from President Bush and then again from President Obama.

In high school, Valentina was an honor graduate and an Advanced Placement Scholar. She was a leader in student government, a member of the Beta Club--a national academic honors program--and Peer Leaders, where she mentored younger students. She somehow also found time to be president of the school's environmental group and managed the varsity basketball team.

Valentina was quite a student, but Georgia State law bans undocumented students from attending that State's top public universities. As a result, she applied and was accepted to Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in Hanover, NH. She is now a sophomore at Dartmouth, where she is a premed student majoring in neuroepidemiology.

You see, Valentina's dream is to become a doctor, to help people, and to give back to her community.
To help pay for her few tuition, she works as a projectionist at a local theater. Keep in mind, as an undocumented student, she is ineligible for any Federal Government assistance. She still finds time to volunteer as a mentor for kids in the local community schools, and in a letter to me she said the following about DACA, President Obama's program:

I am beyond grateful because, by receiving DACA, the U.S. has given me an opportunity to give back to this country that has given me so much. This is my country. I have worked hard to prove myself worthy in the eyes of my American counterparts and knowing that I am in a weird limbo in regards to my legal status doesn't make me sleep any easier. My name is registered with the government, so I might be deported if they decide to end DACA.

Let me say clearly to Valentina and the other DREAMers like her. I am going to do everything in my power as a U.S. Senator to ensure that DACA continues and to protect them from deportation. Many came forward, against the best advice of their parents, who say: You are registering with a government that can deport you. But they had confidence that if they followed the law, as it was described to them, if they were open and honest, America would treat them fairly.

That is all I am asking. For the 740,000 currently protected by DACA, and for the others who are eligible for it, who will go through a background check and pay their fee, we are asking for fairness. These young people came here as kids. They had no voice in the decision to come to America. Now they want us to be their voice in terms of their future in America.

Would America be better if Valentina was deported back to Uruguay, a country where she hasn't lived since she was 6 years old? Will it be stronger if we lose Valentina as a doctor, serving a critical part of America? The answer is clear.

Now is the time for America, this Nation of immigrants, to come together and heal the wounds that divided us during the election. I hope President-Elect Trump will understand and will continue the DACA Program that provides some fairness, some opportunity for these amazing young people.

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