Dick Durbin Urges Congress To Establish Pathway To Citizenship For DACA Recipients

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During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke about the DACA program.

Transcript

00:00The Democratic Whip

00:07Mr. President?

00:08The Democratic Whip.

00:09Are we in a quorum call?

00:10We are not.

00:11Thank you, Mr. President.

00:13Mr. President, it was over 20 years ago that our office was detected in Chicago.

00:20There was a young woman named Theresa Lee.

00:24She had been born in Korea and, as an infant, was taken to Brazil.

00:30And then her father, who was a Protestant minister, brought her and her mother to Chicago.

00:37She contacted our office because she had a problem when it came to her citizenship.

00:44It seems that the decision to move her around as an infant, made by her parents, left her undocumented.

00:53Her family didn't have a lot of money.

00:56She grew up with her father, who was a Protestant minister, trying to find the proper church.

01:01And she went from church to church as her father preached sermons, made a few dollars to keep the family together.

01:07While her father was practicing his sermons at the church, she was in the back room, banging away at the piano.

01:14As a student in public schools in Chicago, she got her first opportunity for real lessons through something called the Merit Music Program.

01:24She was great. Extraordinary.

01:27By the time she finished high school, people recognized in her an extraordinary musical genius.

01:34They encouraged her to apply to the best, Juilliard, Manhattan Conservatory of Music.

01:41And as she filled out the application to go to these great schools, she would run across that question,

01:47what is your nationality, what is your citizenship?

01:50She never thought to ask.

01:52It turns out she was undocumented.

01:55She didn't know what that meant in terms of her future.

01:58And a friend of hers contacted our office to see what we could do.

02:03The law was very clear for Theresa Lee.

02:05Although it was her parents and others who made decisions in her life that resulted in her undocumented status,

02:11the law of the United States said that she had to leave the United States for 10 years and apply to come back in.

02:19It didn't sound right to me.

02:21She didn't make any of those decisions. Her parents did.

02:24She'd done everything she was supposed to do, go to school, get good grades, develop her talent.

02:30And yet we were rejecting her, sending her out of the country.

02:33It was at that point I introduced a bill called the DREAM Act.

02:37If you talked about DREAMers before that bill was introduced,

02:41most people would refer you to the British rock group, Freddie and the DREAMers,

02:45which very few people remember.

02:47But since then, the word DREAMers has come to characterize these young people

02:52who, by decisions of their parents, are in the United States undocumented.

02:58Today we mark the 13th anniversary of a program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

03:07It's a program which affects these DREAMers and their future.

03:11I first introduced the DREAM Act with Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in 2001, 24 years ago.

03:18I've included it in many forms of legislation that comes to the Senate floor,

03:23repeatedly introduced it as an amendment over the years.

03:26I've never quite been able to reach the point where I could meet the 60-vote requirement to wave a filibuster

03:33or to pass it in the House the same year.

03:36After years of Congressional action in 2010, I wrote a letter to a man who was my former colleague from Illinois

03:45who had been elected President of the United States, Barack Obama.

03:48I asked him, and Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican in Indiana, joined me,

03:53in asking President Obama if he could do something to stop the deportation of these young DREAMers.

03:59Two years later, President Obama announced the DACA program.

04:04The DACA program has protected nearly 835,000 DREAMers,

04:12many of whom have gone on to pursue higher education, purchase homes, start businesses,

04:18and make America a better country to live in.

04:21These young people who grew up in this country alongside our own kids went to school with them,

04:26stood up in the morning before class and pledged allegiance to that flag,

04:30believed that they were real Americans from the start, but not in the eyes of the law.

04:35DACA recipients have started families, 37% have U.S. citizen children,

04:41and 935,000 U.S. citizens live with DACA holders.

04:46It's a large chunk of our population, and they've done dramatic things to make this a better country.

04:52DACA recipients greatly contribute to our labor force.

04:56They're teachers, nurses, workers, doctors, and more.

05:02They boost our economy, providing nearly $16 billion to the U.S. economy each year.

05:08I've been coming to the Senate floor for 20 years telling stories of DREAMers and DACA recipients.

05:14I don't think there's any better way to describe who they are and what they go through

05:18to try to become American citizens and be part of the future of this country.

05:23I'd like to highlight one of them today.

05:27This is the 149th story of a DREAMer that I've shared on the floor of the Senate.

05:37Alejandro O was born in Mexico and moved to the St. Louis metropolitan area when she was five years old.

05:46She was a great student.

05:49She became a member of the National Honor Society.

05:52She was certified as a nurse assistant, a patient care technician, and a phlebotomist,

05:57all by the time she graduated from high school.

06:00Her dream is to become a full-time registered nurse.

06:04Do we need more nurses? Absolutely.

06:07Despite the national nursing shortage and her excellent qualifications,

06:11Alondra was unable to get a nursing license in her home state of Missouri

06:16because state law there prohibits DACA recipients from becoming nurses.

06:21But she didn't give up.

06:24Missouri's loss became my home state of Illinois' gain,

06:27and today Alondra serves as an emergency department registered nurse in Alton, Illinois,

06:33just across the river from Missouri.

06:36Sadly, Alondra still lives in fear every day that all of her hard work will mean nothing if DACA is eliminated.

06:44She's lived in this country since she was five years old.

06:47She should not be forced to leave the only home she's ever known

06:51simply because Congress has failed to do its job to fix our broken immigration system.

06:57Alondra should be able to work in this critical field where we desperately need nurses,

07:02wherever her services are most needed, and do so without fear of deportation.

07:08You've heard a lot said in political campaigns about murderers, rapists, terrorists, and mentally deranged people

07:16who are seeking to make a future in the United States.

07:19What about Alondra?

07:21Does she fit any of those categories?

07:23Of course not.

07:25She has, against the odds, developed a great reputation and a great resume with her education, training, and work experience.

07:34She's doing work in her field in a part of our state where we desperately need nurses.

07:40She is no threat to anyone.

07:42She's not a danger.

07:44She is, in fact, a beacon of hope for those people who are sick and need a good nurse.

07:49Unfortunately, there's been a relentless campaign to eliminate DACA and deport DREAMers.

07:55So the future for Alondra and other DACA recipients remains legally uncertain.

08:00Basic question.

08:02Is America better off to have Alondra, the nurse in Alton, Illinois, here,

08:07or to deport her from the United States to a country she hasn't seen since she was five years old?

08:13More than 100,000 DREAMers have initial DACA applications that are still pending.

08:20They're in limbo because for years we haven't allowed those who qualified to apply to join the ranks of DACA.

08:27DACA was always intended to be a temporary program to give Congress time to pass a permanent solution.

08:34We're not very good at passing anything in Congress.

08:37Now in their thirteenth year of waiting, it's time for us to honor the DREAMers' patience,

08:43act on our promises, and provide them with a pathway to citizenship.

08:47My mother was an immigrant to this country.

08:49I'm proud of immigrants.

08:51Our family came here with nothing, not even speaking the language,

08:55worked hard and established themselves.

08:58And my mother, eighth grade education, no experience in high school or college,

09:03raised three boys to serve this country.

09:06My two brothers were in the United States Navy, and I've served here in the United States Senate.

09:10Is immigration important for this country?

09:12The Durbin family believes it is.

09:14I'm going to continue to fight for the DREAMers, continue to fight for DACA.

09:19I urge my Republican colleagues, be thoughtful on the issue of immigration.

09:24Don't penalize Alondra, this wonderful young woman who has worked so hard to become a registered nurse in my state of Illinois.

09:31Give her a chance to make America and my state a better place.

09:35We remember this anniversary of the DACA program.

09:38Thank President Obama for his vision to realize these young people could make this a better country,

09:44and realize that we ought to be thoughtful when it comes to immigration.

09:47If you're a danger to this country, we don't want you here.

09:50We don't want you coming here.

09:51But if you're going to make this a better place to live, we not only want you, we desperately need you.

09:56DACA program represents hundreds of thousands of young people who prove that every single day of their lives.

10:02Mr. President, I yield the floor.

10:08I think it's great.

10:09Lord.

10:11I'm looking forward to the story of the DACA program.

10:14I'm going to get to the other side of the DACA program.

10:16I'm going to get here.

10:17I'm going to try to get to the other side of the DACA program.

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