Broader Options for Americans Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, it is time for the Senate to do its job as a separate branch of government.
This week, we can come together on a bipartisan basis to resolve the crisis Donald Trump created when he canceled DACA. We can provide hundreds of thousands of young people in our country their shot at pursuing the American dream without fear of deportation. Right now, these young people who were brought to this country as children are terrified they will be separated from their families and the lives they have built here, in the only country they know and love.
I have met and spoken with so many Dreamers in the Halls of Congress these past months. Their focus, determination, and commitment in this fight continues to be extraordinary and inspiring. Each Dreamer has a different story to tell, but they all share a profoundly simple aspiration--to live, work, and study in the only country they have ever called home.
When you sit and listen to their stories, it is not difficult to understand why between 80 and 90 percent of Americans support protecting these Dreamers--people like Karen, Maleni, and Beatrice, who can attend the University of Hawaii because of DACA; people like Victor, from Houston, who aspires to become a counselor for LGBTQ youth like him; and people like Getsi, from Oregon, who works three jobs so she can pursue her dream of becoming a nurse practitioner to care for our seniors. These inspiring young people don't need to hear any more promises. They need Members of Congress to put their votes where their mouths have been and do the right thing.
Like many of my colleagues, I strongly support passing a clean Dream Act--legislation that already has bipartisan support--but it is critical that we get to the 60 votes we need to pass a bill. I am open to discussing different provisions, including some funding for border security to help us get there. We can and should have a debate on comprehensive immigration reform but only after we pass legislation this week to protect the Dreamers. We cannot and should not use this debate to provide cover for efforts to dismantle the family-based immigration system or to make massive cuts to legal immigration.
The President and a number of colleagues have made it clear they would like to eliminate family-based immigration in favor of a system that is designed only to recruit immigrants with advanced degrees and specialized skills. It is important for the United States to recruit highly skilled immigrants, and we have a number of immigration programs that are designed specifically for this purpose, but when you restrict immigration only to people with highly specialized skills or advanced degrees, you lose out on a lot of human potential that has historically contributed so much to our country. We don't have to look far back into history to prove why this statement is true.
Over the past week, the Olympics has captured the excitement and imagination of people across the country--in fact, the world. Many of the people we have been cheering for are either the children of immigrants or are immigrants themselves.
Over the weekend, we saw Mirai Nagasu, whose parents emigrated from Japan, become the first American woman to land a triple axel in the Olympics during her appearance in the team figure skating competition. Yesterday, we saw Maame Biney, who immigrated to the United States from Ghana, take to the ice to compete in the short track speed skating.
Two nights ago, I watched Chloe Kim throw down a near perfect score in the women's snowboard halfpipe to win the Olympic Gold Medal. After completing her history-making run, the cameras panned to her father Jong Jin Kim, who proudly waved his ``Go Chloe'' sign in the audience.
Jong arrived in California in 1982 with $800 in his pocket. He worked for years at minimum wage jobs to save for college. While studying at El Camino College, he worked as a heavy machinery operator at night. Jong encouraged Chloe to begin snowboarding when she was 4. They would jump off the lifts together, but because he didn't know how to snowboard, they would tumble to the ground. Jong bought Chloe her first snowboard on eBay for $25. When Chloe was 8, Jong quit his job as an engineer to support her snowboarding career. He would often wake up at 2 a.m. in the morning to drive Chloe over 300 miles to her practices.
After watching his daughter win the Olympic Gold, Jong said in Korean, ``When I came to the United States, this was my American hope. Now, this is my American dream.''
In reflecting on her father's sacrifice, Chloe said, ``My dad has definitely sacrificed a lot for me, and I don't know if I could do it if I was in his shoes, leaving your life behind and chasing your dream because your kid is passionate about this sport. I think today I did it for my family, and I am so grateful to them.''
Chloe's story of winning the Olympic Gold is extraordinary, but her father's story speaks to a deep and abiding foundation of America and to my personal experience as an immigrant.
My mom also came to this country--poor and without skills to escape an abusive marriage--to give her three children, of which I am one, a chance at a better life. Like Jong and Chloe, one generation after my mom came to this country, I am standing on the floor of the U.S. Senate, fighting for humane immigration policies.
These stories speak to the broader immigrant experience in our country. We work hard and embrace the opportunities this country provides, and we often see the result of this hard work within a single generation.
I would ask my colleagues: Do you think the United States would be better off if we prevented immigrants like Jong and me from coming to this country? Targeting immigrants for discriminatory and harsh treatment is denying our country's history. With the exception of our original peoples, everyone came to our country from somewhere else. We are fighting to preserve the spirit of our country--that shining city on a hill.
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