DACA

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I join my colleague from Colorado to come to the floor to talk about the President's misguided decision earlier today to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.

This program, put in place by the last administration, gave the certainty and predictability to so many young children who were brought to the United States through not their own actions but through others' actions. As my colleague talked about, there is story after story of young people who have literally applied for college aid only to find out they were not here legally and could not pursue that kind of financial assistance. That is why, since 2001, I have been a supporter of the Dream Act. Tonight, I cannot believe this is the message from this President.

In a remarkable act of courage and trust, 17,500 young DACA recipients are working and contributing to the economy in my State, the State of Washington. These recipients must submit biographical information and biometric information, and allow State Department, Homeland Security, and other Federal agencies to complete background checks. They have never committed a felony, and they must have a job, be in school, or have served in the military. So ending this program is literally taking workers out of our State, taking the gross domestic product of over $1 billion that it will cost our Nation over the next several years.

The President's decision to end DACA runs counter to the longstanding and proud history in our State of welcoming immigrants. Dreamers invest in their communities. They pay State and local taxes. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce supports this program as does a majority of Americans, and over 300 business leaders agree that Dreamers help us build a better and more prosperous America. Just today, one of the key Microsoft executives--one of our key companies--said he would rather have legislation to protect these individuals in immigration reform than to have tax reform. That is how important it is to our State.

I am glad my colleagues Senators Durbin and Graham held a bipartisan press conference to talk about supporting this important legislation to move forward.

Tonight, as we are returning to the U.S. Senate, with lots of priorities, we need to make sure we are giving young people--young people who have benefited from the security of participating in our economy--the certainty that they will continue to be here in the United States and to serve in our military. I hope my colleagues will take this seriously and move toward legislation.

We have worked on a bipartisan basis on this legislation for more than a decade. Yet it is simple. You either want to protect these young individuals or you do not. I hope my colleagues will give us a chance to rectify this as soon as possible.

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