Nomination of Pamela Harris to Be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Curcuit

Floor Speech

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CHILD REFUGEE CRISIS

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, the child refugee crisis on America's border is a human tragedy.

Two weeks ago in Chicago I met 70 of these children. It was a meeting I won't forget. These are children, some are infants. How they ever made it to the United States is nothing short of a miracle, and many who tried didn't.

Those who made it--some of them--come scarred from the journey--young women who were assaulted, children who were beaten. Some lost their lives on the way, but these were the survivors. They made it. They were in a transitional shelter in Chicago that has been there for 19 years, and 70 of them were getting physical exams and meals. As one person there said, for the first time in their lives, many of them, were free to be children.

These children are in the United States and they are testing us. It is a test for the United States as to whether we care. I believe we are a caring nation. We proved it over and over. How many times in far-flung places in the world have we rallied--politically to stand behind 300 girls who were kidnapped in Nigeria, to be there during the Haitian earthquake to make sure the families and children would at least have shelter, medicine, and food. The list goes on and on for this caring nation.

But this is different. This is not about a problem over there. This is about a challenge here. What President Obama has said to us is we must rise to this challenge. As we have in so many places in this world, we must rise to the challenges at home. When it comes to these children, we can be humane and caring and do the right thing.

He sent us a bill to pay for the services they need. It is expensive. Some people argue it is too expensive. Well, we can argue about the exact amount of money, but I hope we aren't arguing about the value and the principle that is being tested. I hope we are not arguing about whether the United States is a caring and compassionate nation.

I just left a meeting with the Presidents from the three Central American countries which are responsible for 80 percent of these refugees: El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. Yesterday we met with their Ambassadors.

It is easy to understand what is happening. It is easy to understand when the economies are so poor in this area that families cannot feed their children. It is easy to understand when the drug gangs are so powerful that these children are being threatened, exploited, raped, and killed. It is only then that in desperation some member of the family says: There is only one chance. We send you to the United States--putting these children in the hands of coyotes and smugglers who take them on a journey that doesn't last hours but days and is 2,000 miles. Imagine. Imagine a mother taking her child to the freight train--this 12-year-old boy--watching him climb up the ladder on the side and hang on. She says: You will be there in 4 days.

Can you imagine that. Can you imagine the family in Honduras, who before they send their young girl on this journey with the coyote, giving her birth control pills in anticipation that she will likely be sexually assaulted during the course of that journey? How desperate must that family be? That is the reality of this human child refugee crisis that we face.

The President has said we need to do several things. First, we need to tell these countries: Don't send these children. It is too dangerous, and when they have arrived, they have no special legal rights to be citizens or to stay. We need to get that message through loudly and clearly: Do not send your children. The countries involved--Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala--are joining us now in getting that message out.

Secondly, we need to start apprehending and prosecuting these coyotes, these smugglers. They extort from these families 1 year of wages to try to bring children into this country.

Some of these children are teenagers--most of them are--but many of them are babies and infants.

Five women walked into the dining room at the shelter carrying newborn babies. All of these women are from Honduras and all are victims of rape. They had gone on these buses for 8 days to bring these newborn infants to a safer place so that they might survive.

I am heartened by the fact that religious groups all around the United States have rallied behind these children. I am proud the Catholic Church--which I associate with; occasionally they associate with me--I am proud the Catholic Church and the bishops have spoken. Evangelicals are one of the first groups to come forward and say: We have to do something for these children.

Even some of the most conservative political commentators have said: First, America, show your heart that you care for

these children.

That is what the President is asking us to do.

So let us take care, when we consider the supplemental appropriations bill, that we don't lose sight of our values. To those who politically disagree and sometimes even despise the President, I urge them not to try to show how tough they are with this President at the expense of these small children. Let's show how big we are as a nation first. The political debate can be saved for another day.

I support this legislation. I think it is the right thing to do.

I want history to write this chapter about America, and I want it to be a chapter of which we are proud. I want a future generation to look back to this year and say that in this year, when the United States was presented with this border crisis with children, America showed its heart; America stood and did what was right for these children, as we have so many times in the past.

IRON DOME

There are other parts of this bill. One of them is a section I have worked on in my capacity as chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. This is called Iron Dome, and it is much different than a debate about children or refugees.

Over the past 3 weeks, more than 2,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. According to press reports, civilian casualties have been limited--maybe even only 2 out of 2,000 rockets. There are two reasons for the low number of injuries from this barrage.

First, many of these rockets land in uninhabited areas. Second, these rockets are headed for cities and towns, but these rockets are stopped and destroyed before they strike their targets. The reason? The Iron Dome missile defense system, a joint effort by the United States and Israel to protect against just an attack. The United States and Israel have deep ties on this program. Of the 10 Iron Dome batteries that have been fielded, the United States provided funding for 8 of them. I am pleased we have because this system has saved innocent lives.

Our country has been asked for additional assistance to ensure that the Israeli stockpile of Iron Dome interceptors is adequate to the challenge. We don't know when this crisis will end. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel endorsed an additional $225 million in funding for Iron Dome in a recent letter.

The requested funds are in addition to next year's appropriations. It may be some time before the appropriations bills are enacted, and that is why the President has asked to include in this supplemental appropriation $225 million to speed up the production of Iron Dome missiles.

The Senate simply has too little time. There is next week, and then we are gone for 5 or 6 weeks, return for perhaps 2, and then we are gone until November. So we have to act and act now.

This supplemental appropriations bill with the Iron Dome money needs to pass. I am going to be supporting it. This is an emergency which is front and center.

The Ambassador from Israel to the United States came to see me last week. He said at one time two-thirds of the population of Israel was in bomb shelters during these attacks. It is a serious threat to them.

Let me add too that all of us are praying this violence and war between Gaza and Israel will come to an end soon, that they will institute a cease-fire, sit at a table and resolve their differences.

But we cannot expect any country--not Israel, not the United States--any country--to sit and take 2,000 incoming rockets and not respond. This saves lives--the Iron Dome.

But now we need to take the next step, bringing peace to this region so
that innocent people on both sides of the border are going to be spared.

Hamas, a group which we have characterized as terrorist since the late 1990s, is leading this attack on Israel. This terrorist group is politically popular in some parts of Gaza. How do they protect their rocket launchers? They place them in homes, they put them in crowded areas, and they build tunnels under Gaza streets for their weapons and to escape when they are attacked.

The latest report is they were building these tunnels under hospitals, knowing that Israel and other countries would spare these hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospitals are covering tunnels, which is just the source of much more violence in the area.

CHILD REFUGEE CRISIS

I wish to close on the issue about the child refugees. I see Senator Portman of Ohio is on the floor. I will close and yield in a moment for him.

One of the questions I asked of the Ambassadors from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala was this: We believe the children who come into the United States once given a chance to state why they are here--we believe that half of them or maybe more will be returned to their countries.

I asked the Ambassadors from these countries: Can we have confidence that if these children, who have come to our border, are returned back to their countries, they will be safe. A simple question, Will they be safe. Do you have people, charities, agencies of government to guarantee that when they return, when they get off the plane or the bus, they will be safe?

The Ambassador from Guatemala said: Yes, we do. The Ambassador from Honduras said: No, we don't. The Ambassador from El Salvador said: Neither do we.

Let us think about this for a moment. Let us reflect on this for a moment. Let us make sure we do everything in our power to hand these children over to a safe situation.

Let us work with these countries to stop the flow into this country, but to make certain that when they return, they are returned to a safe setting.

Can you believe that in Chicago a brother and a sister--a 6 year-old and a 3-year-old brother and sister--came to one of these shelters? I could see from the bruises on their bodies they had been through something on their way here. It took 2 months before these children--the 6-year-old--finally talked about what she can remember from this horrendous journey. I won't recount the details, but it is heartbreaking to think that a child of 6 years would have endured this experience.

Let's do right by these children. Let's make sure at the end of the day America has proven again we are a caring nation and that for those children who come to our shores, come to our borders, we will treat them humanely and compassionately, as we would want our own children to be treated if they were ever in such a desperate circumstance.

Let's set the politics aside. Let's put these children front and center.

I yield the floor.

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