DACA And DAPA Programs
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 14 years ago, I introduced a bill known as the DREAM Act. My friend and colleague Senator Leahy was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and for the last 14 years we have tried to pass this basic law, and here is what it says: If you were brought to the United States as a child, and you were undocumented in America, but you have lived here without committing any serious crime and finished high school, we will give you a chance. If you will agree to at least complete 2 years of college or enlist in America's military, we will give you a path to citizenship.
I offered this legislation because so many young people--about 2 1/2 million--living in this country were brought here when they were infants, small children. They didn't have any voice in the matter, their parents decided. They came to the United States. They have lived here as Americans. They stood in their classroom every single day and put their hand on their heart and pledged allegiance to that flag. That was their flag. What they didn't know or didn't understand was that they were undocumented. They don't have a country. The laws of the United States are very clear. If you are one of those people, you have to leave. You have to leave for at least 10 years and then apply to come back in. I didn't think that was fair.
I introduced the DREAM Act. In fact, I had the support of the senior Senator from Utah as my cosponsor when I first introduced it. We could not pass it and make it the law of the land. So the day came when I appealed to the President of the United States, my former colleague from the Senate and the State of Illinois. He was a sponsor of the DREAM Act. I appealed to the President to give these young people a chance. He took his power as President and issued an Executive order, and that Executive order said that if these young people would come forward, pay a substantial fee for processing, show that they have no serious criminal record and can show they had come to the United States years before, they would be given a chance to stay without fear of deportation. It is called DACA.
Well, the President waited and challenged Congress to do something about it--pass the DREAM Act, pass comprehensive immigration reform. Even though it passed in the Senate, with 68 votes on a bipartisan rollcall vote, the Republican House of Representatives refused to even call the measure for a vote.
One year passed, 2 years have passed, and here we are--no action by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives or, for that matter, in the Senate to move comprehensive immigration reform. The President said: I am going to step up with my power as President and do what I can to deal with this issue. He said: Let's have some standards. I will not allow anyone to step forward and ask for temporary status in this country unless they have been here at least 5 years. If they step forward, they have to pay a filing fee for us to process their application, and they have to submit themselves to a criminal and national security background check. We don't want anybody in this country who is a danger to America. If they flunk that part of the test, they are finished and deported. And then they have to put their names on the books to pay their taxes in the United States of America while they are working. Under those circumstances, we will give them the temporary renewable right to stay and work without fear of deportation, and then several years later repeat it, submit an application again. The President believes, and I share the belief, we will be a safer nation if we do that.
There could be as many as 11 million undocumented people in this country who would qualify for what we call DAPA. They would have to pay a fee, pay their taxes, go through this background check, and be subject to renewal on a regular basis.
Well, today, May 19, 2015, was supposed to be the first day people would be allowed to apply for this new program--this DAPA Program, but unfortunately it has been stopped cold. It has been stopped by the Republican Party in the House and Senate and stopped by their efforts in court to stop this President. Oh, they have an alternative. They stated their alternative. Their alternative is for these people to leave the United States. Their candidate for President, Governor Romney, said as much when he ran last time. They have no alternative plan. They want these people--millions of them--to leave the United States through voluntary deportation, as they call it.
Well, the sad reality is that is not going to happen, and obviously the Republicans are not going to do anything to deal with our broken immigration system. There are casualties with this decision. One of them is Naomi Florentino. This attractive young woman was brought to the United States from Mexico when she was 10 years old. She grew up in Smyrna, TN. She was an amazing student and active in her community.
In high school, she was a member of the National Honor Society, and she received the Student of the Year Awards for algebra and art. She served on the student council and played on the varsity soccer and track and field teams, where she was a shot-putter and discus thrower.
Naomi's dream is to become a robotics engineer. In high school, she was a member of the robotics team, participated in NASA's Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy, and she performed so well she won the Next Generation Pioneer Award. Naomi graduated from high school with an honor's diploma, but Naomi's immigration status limited her options. The college counselor refused to help. The college counselor at her high school told her that since she was undocumented, she was on her own.
She didn't quit. She took mechanical engineering courses at Lipscomb University in Nashville. She then went on to community college. These undocumented kids cannot get help while they are going to school. They do not qualify for the Pell grant or government loans. She was determined. She was not going to quit.
At the community college, where she will be graduating this spring, she has an associate's degree in mechatronics technology, a field that combines mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering, and computer engineering. This fall Naomi will begin to work on her bachelor's degree in engineering at Middle Tennessee State University. Remember what I said. She is on her own. She gets no help from the government to do this because she is undocumented.
In her spare time--if you can imagine she has any--she continues to be very involved in her community. For 6 years, she was judge and mentor in engineering and robotics competitions. Since 2008, she has volunteered as a college mentor with the YMCA Latino Achievers Program in Tennessee. Despite everything this young woman has achieved in her life, her future is totally uncertain.
In 2012, President Obama said that under the DACA Program we are going to protect Naomi, and people just like her, from deportation. We will not give her government assistance to go to school, but at least she knows she will not be deported as long as she passes the test I mentioned earlier.
She is now part of the work-study program at Nissan North America's Smyrna, TN, plant. They want her. Wouldn't you? This is the largest automotive manufacturing plant in the United States.
As a maintenance intern, she assists with troubleshooting on their most sophisticated equipment--this young lady with 2 years of community college.
She wrote me a letter, and here is what she said about the DACA Program:
DACA has meant the opportunity of a lifetime for my academic and professional career. As a student at Smyrna High School, driving past the Nissan plant motivated me to be a better student--with hopes of, one day, being part of a company that is highly-regarded in my community. However, without proper work authorization, that goal seemed far-fetched. Today, it is a reality for me. I have learned that, given the opportunity, hard work, patience and perseverance can pay off.
Naomi and 600,000 DREAMers like her have stepped forward under President Obama's program. They are not going to be given any kind of award. They will just be given a chance.
I don't understand the Republican point of view. The Republicans would have us deport this young woman. Their attitude is: Send her back to Mexico. We don't need her.
She, unfortunately, came here because her parents decided to bring her here, and now she has to pay the price for her parents' decision. Is that what America is all about? Is that what our system of justice is all about?
Naomi will be an important part of our future, and thousands like her deserve that chance. That is why today is a sad day. The President's efforts to extend this program and help others--parents of young DREAMers like this have been stopped cold by the courts and stopped cold by the Republican leadership.
President Abraham Lincoln once said, ``We cannot escape history,'' and history is very clear, we are a nation of immigrants. My mother was an immigrant to this country, and I stand here today as a Senator from the great State of Illinois. I am very proud of what she and her family did when she came to this country.
Let us reward those who are willing to come to America to work and make it better. Let us give these young people a chance. Let us, once and for all, say this Nation of immigrants is proud of our heritage and prouder still of what immigrants can mean to our future.
I yield the floor.
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