Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on September 5 of last year, President Trump announced the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA. As a result of that decision by President Trump, hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to the United States as children, known as Dreamers, face losing their work permits and their right to stay in America without deportation. They are threatened with being returned to countries that many of them barely remember, if at all.

These Dreamers were brought here as children--infants, toddlers, young kids--by their parents to America, and they grew up here. They went to school in America, to our public schools and other schools that were available to them. They stood up in their classrooms every morning and pledged allegiance to the flag. They grew up believing that this was their home.

At some point in their lives their parents pulled them aside and told them the bitter truth--that they were not legally in America, they were undocumented, and they were vulnerable. At any minute, a knock on the door or a stop on the highway could result in not only their deportation but the deportation of every member of their family. Growing up is tough enough for an adolescent. I can't imagine growing up with this shadow over me, wondering whether at any moment a misstep or being in the wrong place might mean that I would be sent from this country and that my parents would be sent with me, but they grew up with that reality and with that danger.

They did some extraordinary things. They not only prospered in America and finished their education, they went on with great ambition, believing the day would come when they would get a chance to be part of this country.

Seventeen years ago, I introduced the Dream Act. The purpose of that bill was to give those young people a chance--a chance to earn their way to legal status, earn their way to citizenship. If they have a serious criminal record, they are gone and we want nothing to do with them. They had squandered any opportunity they had to be part of America's future. But if they were doing the right thing, leading a good life, working hard, finishing school, many of us believed they deserved a chance. In fact, at this point, 85 percent of Americans believe they deserve a chance, and that includes 60 percent of the people who voted for President Trump.

We have never passed the Dream Act and made it the law, but when I asked my former Senate colleague, President Obama, to see if there was something he could do by Executive order, he created DACA. DACA gave these young people a 2-year renewable protection. They had to pay a $500 fee, submit themselves to a criminal background check, and if they passed it, they would end up with a temporary, renewable right to stay in America. About 800,000 came forward and did it.

There were many more who were eligible but scared--scared that turning over their family's information and their personal information to this government or any government could turn out badly. Can you blame them? They have lived their whole lives in fear that a highway stop or somebody being arrested next to them could mean they would have to leave the only country they had ever known. But 800,000 stepped up and said: We will do it. I encouraged them. I went to so many meetings in Chicago, around the State of Illinois, and around the country telling them that this DACA Program was for real and that the government was giving them a pledge that they would stand by them on a renewable basis because of President Obama's order.

The program was a huge success. As I mentioned, 800,000 signed up, and some even renewed. Then came the decision by President Trump to end the program. What he said was that by March 5 of this year, there would be no more DACA. Those who were protected could play out their temporary protection but no renewals.

That is where the issue stood for the longest time. Many of us decided that we needed to do something about it and to accept the President's challenge and create a law--a law that would provide protection for these young people. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina; Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona; Senator Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado; Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado; and Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey--we came together and decided on a bipartisan basis to draw up a bill to try to solve this problem, be fair to these young people, and give them a chance to stay in America and earn their way to citizenship. When we proposed the bill to President Trump, he rejected it. In fact, he rejected six different bipartisan proposals to solve this problem.

So the deadline was looming and passed last week on March 5, and the program, by the President's proclamation, would have been finished were it not for two Federal courts that intervened and said: No, Mr. President. You may have overstepped. You may have done more than you can legally do. So we are going to protect these Dreamers, these DACA young people, until we resolve the question on your constitutional authority to make that decision.

At the current moment, more than 700,000 of these young DACA recipients are protected by a court order that required that they reopen DACA eligibility for those whose DACA protection had expired, the 2-year temporary protection. Now tens of thousands of them are coming forward and applying for DACA renewal.

Last week I called Secretary Nielsen at the Department of Homeland Security and said: I have some questions that I am hearing as I travel around. For example, if I was protected by DACA and my protection came to an end and I am now reapplying for DACA and going to your agency, how long will it take your agency to process my application?

Secretary Nielsen could not give me an exact date, but there has been speculation that it could take 4 to 6 months. You see, there is a big backlog of cases, and it could take months before they process all those cases. That was my first question.

My second question: In that 4- to 6-month period, can these young DACA recipients be deported?

She said no. I put out an order, she said, that no one is to be deported if they made an application for DACA renewal.

I asked Secretary Nielsen: Can we have that in writing?

I will get back to you, she said.

I don't think that is too much to ask--whether these young people can be protected from deportation while they are applying for DACA renewal.

The third question: There is also a legal ability to work under DACA. Can you protect these young people's ability to have a job while you are processing their applications?

She didn't know whether she could. I have since learned that she has the authority to do that, but it is an important question, isn't it? If you happen to be one of these DACA recipients--the vast majority of them are actually working, and most of them are in school or have graduated. They have to. They don't qualify for any Federal Pell grants or government loans, so they need to work to pay off their education. That is understandable.

So it is still uncertain as to what is going to happen. Then what happens when the court lifts this injunction, and what will be the future of these young people?

President Trump said some harsh things about immigration during the course of the Presidential campaign. We all remember his comments about people of the Muslim religion, his comments about Mexican rapists, and his pledge to build a big, beautiful wall from sea to shining sea and have Mexico pay for it. Do you remember? We all heard those things. But an interesting thing happened after he was elected: He started saying more moderate, positive things about Dreamers, to the point where I actually had some hope that this particular group would have a fighting chance. As of today, there is no indication that President Trump feels the same way. Six different bipartisan proposals have been rejected. So here we stand with this uncertainty.

When the issue came before the Senate, we did our best to put together a bipartisan rollcall. We came close but not close enough. There were 4 proposals on the floor, and the one with the largest number of votes received 54 votes. There were three Democrats who disagreed with some parts of it. I think we could have probably found a way to get their support. But we only had 8 Republicans who joined us-- 8 out of 51--to vote for the measure to deal with this issue. So it is still an unresolved issue at this moment as to what is going to happen after the court cases.

I have come to the floor many times--in fact, over 100 times--to tell the stories of these Dreamers, and I would like to do that today before I yield to the Democratic leader.

This is Maria Torres Mendoza. Maria is the 111th Dreamer I have featured here on the floor of the Senate. She came here to the United States from Mexico when she was 5 years old, and she grew up in the State of Washington. Her family didn't have much money, so she worked pretty hard. She used to deliver newspapers. She delivered 100 newspapers before school each morning. She worked odd jobs--shoveled snow, cut grass. When she was in high school, she worked as a server at a restaurant every day while she was still going to school, kept up with her studies, and delivered the newspapers in the morning. You can tell Maria is not a lazy person.

Because of her family's financial struggles, despite her best efforts, her family was homeless for some time. Through it all, she was an excellent student, and despite her family difficulties, she graduated from high school with a 3.8 grade point average.

She didn't believe she would ever make it to college, but she did. She was accepted at Washington State University Tri-Cities. She is a senior now, and this spring, she will graduate with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in computer science. She is currently working as a student engineer at ATI Titanium and Specialty Alloys, a specialty parts manufacturer. Her main project is creating a system to facilitate the usage of AutoCAD drawings and manuals for engineering and maintenance. I hope none of my colleagues ask me to explain what I just said, but it sounds like pretty important work. What is her dream? She wants a master's degree in engineering. She is particularly interested in nuclear-powered mechatronics--the technology that combines electronics and mechanical engineering.

Maria wrote me a letter, and here is what it said:

DACA is a whole world of opportunities for me. If DACA were to be taken away from me, all my hard work would not count. I want to see the results of my hard work and I wouldn't be able to do so without DACA.

Would America be a better place if Maria was asked to leave? Would we be a stronger nation if we took this young girl's amazing energy, her academic accomplishment, and her dream and drive and sent them back to Mexico? After all these years, after education and hard work--two jobs at a time when she was in high school--is there any doubt that this young woman is going to be a spectacular success in life?

That is what this comes down to--real human beings, DACA recipients, protected by that Executive order of President Obama's, who are now under the threat of deportation because of President Trump's decision. It is a test of who we are as a nation, whether we believe in fairness and opportunity or whether we are going to walk away from our legacy. This is a nation of immigrants.

I stand before you proudly, the son of an immigrant to this country. My mother was brought here from Lithuania when she was 2 years old, and here her son stands as a Senator from the State of Illinois. That is my story, that is my family's story, and that is America's story.

It is time for us to remember Maria and the hundreds of thousands just like her who are asking for a chance to be part of our future.

Mr. President, is it possible that with all the things on your mind, you have forgotten DACA and the Dreamers?

We need President Trump to step up and lead.

Recognition of the Minority Leader

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