Dreamers Are Americans
Floor Speech
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, I yield to my colleague from California (Mr. Vargas).
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, I yield to my colleague from California (Mr. Correa).
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, as the whip of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I am pleased to lead this monthly Special Order hour. It comes at a critical time in America, a critical time for our Nation and for the communities that we represent.
Yesterday morning, Madam Speaker, you may know that the Supreme Court heard a case. They heard arguments on Dreamers. This decision will determine the lives of nearly 1 million young Americans in the Supreme Court of the United States, a million people who were brought here at a very early age, at a very young age, and have known no other country but the United States of America.
We have come to call them Dreamers because they symbolize, in a quintessential way, what the American Dream stands for. They derived the name from bipartisan legislation introduced in 2001 by none other than the former Republican president pro tempore of the Senate, Orrin Hatch of the State of Utah and Dick Durbin of the State of Illinois.
That legislation, which was reintroduced multiple times, would have granted residency status to immigrants who came here as minors, assuming they had no criminal record and had a high school diploma; and they could become permanent residents if they got a college degree or served honorably in the U.S. military.
This proposal was seen as a critical component of any comprehensive immigration reform and for many was considered a low-hanging fruit, the easiest thing we could all agree on, both sides of the aisle. Opinion polling of the American people bore that out. In fact, we have seen poll after poll after poll indicate that over 80 percent of the American people, whether in red States or blue States, support Dreamers.
In 2013, after the House Republican majority flat-out refused to even consider an overwhelmingly bipartisan comprehensive immigration package painstakingly negotiated, amended, and, finally, approved by the Senate on a healthy bipartisan vote, President Obama looked at what his options were, and he saw the very last deal was this low-hanging fruit.
He used his administrative discretion in enforcing immigration laws, a longstanding authority used by Presidents on both sides of the aisle, to create the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or the DACA program.
While the program couldn't provide permanent legal certainty, it did, essentially, tell those who have been eligible under the DREAM Act that, if they came forward and followed various steps to ensure they met conditions similar to those in the DREAM Act, they would be granted relief from deportation and issued documents allowing them to remain and work legally in the United States.
In essence, the Dreamers came forward and shared their personal information--their address, their date of birth--they shared that with us, the government. They were forward. They were transparent in their approach to share vital, personal, and confidential information with the government.
The DACA program and the DREAM Act were so popular and so important because they are an example of who we are and aspire to be as a nation, a nation of immigrants, and it honors our core principles such as basic fairness, compassion, and common sense.
What is more, it is in our national interest to keep DACA recipients here.
Between 2017 and 2027, DACA beneficiaries are projected to contribute $460 billion to the national GDP. They pay $5.7 billion in Federal taxes and $3.1 billion in State and local taxes, annually.
Researchers estimate ending DACA will cost the United States economy anywhere from $283 billion to $460 billion over the next 10 years.
Our Nation also sees benefits from the fact that many DACA recipients are highly educated and skilled workers. Ninety-six percent of DACA recipients are enrolled in school, and 75 percent are pursuing a bachelor's degree or higher.
27,000 DACA recipients are currently employed as healthcare workers and support staff. They are an integral part of the healthcare industry across America.
So it stands to reason that rescinding DACA would do nothing but hurt the economy, drain our businesses of skilled and educated workers, and threaten our public health system.
The reason the current case is making its way through the courts is precisely because the Trump administration has been unable to substantiate their reasoning for terminating the program.
President Trump, himself, has said on numerous occasions that he does not want to deport DACA recipients or so he says. In fact, two lower Federal courts have placed injunctions in the efforts to eliminate the DACA program.
So there are a few things I believe we must do. Most obviously-- though, admittedly, unlikely--if the administration really does not want to send DACA recipients to their place, a place that they have never known, it should rescind its order or find other administrative means to give them certainty.
But even more importantly, Madam Speaker, is that we change the law to provide permanent certainty for these young Americans.
And they are truly Americans: They feel American; they have been here for many years; and many of them, with the exception of having their green card, are very much part of the American fabric.
I was proud to vote for the Dream and Promise Act not too long ago when it passed here in the House. And as the only formerly undocumented immigrant in Congress, I was honored, deeply honored to preside over its passage. It is now on the Senate to act.
We heard the arguments yesterday in the Supreme Court. We are hopeful that the Court will be reasonable and understand that these young people have nothing but to give their sweat and their work, their abilities to our Nation.
Based on the vote just 6 years ago, it is clear that H.R. 6 would pass if the majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, brought it to a vote.
This legislation, a similar legislation, a lot more complex, more comprehensive in scope, was passed not too long ago in the Senate in a bipartisan way.
In the meantime, Democrats in the House, we must continue to consider other legislation that will help Dreamers. For example, the Education and Labor Committee recently passed a sweeping reform of our higher education programs, the College Affordability Act. That bill would make college more affordable and accessible to Dreamers by making them eligible for financial aid, Pell Grants, and other kinds of financial assistance.
Besides, if we are encouraging Dreamers to complete their education in order to grant them legal status, the least we can do is help them afford the education.
There are numerous reasons to keep Dreamers here and give them the certainty they need to succeed, the most basic being that we have always been, and will continue to be, a Nation of immigrants.
For the rest of this special hour, you will hear from other colleagues in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who will share their stories about why this is critically important for the future of America. In fact, I am compelled to tell you that this is a fight for the soul of America. But here I yield to them.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the many groups who continue to serve our constituents through their advocacy, their legal assistance, their organizational skills, and their moral support, groups like UnidosUS, United We Dream, the Hispanic Federation, Make the Road New York, faith-based groups, labor unions, and countless others. They are all shining examples of what America stands for, and we could not be successful in our work inside the Capitol without the work that they do outside of the Capitol.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Soto), my colleague.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Barragan), the second vice chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for joining me here today. I would like to reiterate the important message that we are here to support Dreamers.
This is not impossible, Madam Speaker. In 2002, while I was a Member of the New York State Assembly, the lower house of the New York State Legislature, we passed instate tuition allowing undocumented college students the ability to pay instate tuition. We did that with a Republican Governor and with a Republican-led Senate. Just last year, New York State again passed the Jose Peralta Dream Act.
So it could be done, Madam Speaker.
Just recently, I was speaking to a group of Dreamers and advocates in Battery Park, New York, having the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop to our rally. I told them to be cognizant of what they are doing because, very often, those who write history, those who write the chapters and the annals of history, are not aware that they are doing it.
I asked them to pay close attention to what they were doing because they are, in fact, the protagonists. They are the leaders of this movement. When you see their faces, and you see what they want to do for our country, it is almost impossible to say no to them. I told them to be very cognizant of their effort because, in fact, they are an army of goodwill.
They may not have weapons in their hands, and they may not wear military gear, but they are an army of goodwill that I think is fighting every day for the soul of America. And 20 or 30 years from now, they will be able to tell their children and grandchildren that they were successful, that they were critical. They were the protagonists, the leaders of a movement led by an army of goodwill that saved America and what it stands for.
Madam Speaker, we will continue to call on our colleagues in the Senate to take up and pass the American Dream and Promise Act so that the lives of over 800,000 Dreamers no longer hang in the balance.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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