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Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it was over 20 years ago that our office was contacted in Chicago. It was a young woman named Tereza Lee. She had been born in Korea and as an infant was taken to Brazil. And then her father, who was a Protestant minister, brought her and her mother to Chicago.
She contacted our office because she had a problem when it came to her citizenship. It seems that the decision to move her around as an infant, made by her parents, left her undocumented.
Her family didn't have a lot of money. She grew up with her father who was a Protestant minister, trying to find the proper church. And she went from church to church as her father preached sermons and made a few dollars to keep the family together.
While her father was practicing his sermons at the church, she was in the back room banging away at the piano. As a student in public schools in Chicago, she got her first opportunity for real lessons through something called the Merit Music Program. She was great--extraordinary.
By the time she finished high school, people recognized in her an extraordinary musical genius. They encouraged her to apply to the best--Juilliard and Manhattan Conservatory of Music. As she filled out the application to go to these great schools, she would run across that question: What is your nationality? What is your citizenship?
She never thought to ask. Turns out she was undocumented. She didn't know what that meant in terms of her future, and a friend of hers contacted our office to see what we could do.
The law is very clear for Tereza Lee. Although it was her parents and others who made decisions in her life that resulted in an undocumented status, the law of the United States said that she had to leave the United States for 10 years and apply to come back in.
Didn't sound right to me. She didn't make any of those decisions; her parents did. She had done everything she was supposed to do: go to school, get good grades, develop her talent. And yet, we were rejecting her and sending her out of the country.
It is at that point that I introduced a bill called the DREAM Act. If you talked about Dreamers before that bill was introduced, most people would refer you to the British rock group Freddie and the Dreamers, which very few people remember.
But since then, the word ``Dreamers'' has come to characterize these young people who, by decisions of their parents, are in the United States undocumented.
Today, we mark the 13th anniversary of the program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, known as DACA. It is a program which affects these Dreamers and their future.
I first introduced the DREAM Act with Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in 2001--24 years ago. I have included it in many forms of legislation that comes to the Senate floor, repeatedly introduced it as an amendment over the years. I have never quite been able to reach the point where I can meet the 60-vote requirement to waive the filibuster or to pass it in the House the same year.
After years of congressional action, in 2010, I wrote a letter to a man who is my former colleague from Illinois who had been elected President of the United States, Barrack Obama. And I asked him--and Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, joined me in asking President Obama if he could do something to stop the deportation of these young Dreamers.
Two years later, President Obama announced the DACA Program. The DACA Program has protected nearly 835,000 Dreamers, many of whom who have gone on to pursue higher education, purchase homes, start businesses, and make America a better country to live in.
These young people who grew up in this country alongside my own kids, went to school, stood up in the morning before class and pledged allegiance to that flag and believed that they were real Americans from the start--but not in the eyes of the law.
DACA recipients have started families; 37 percent have U.S. citizen children; and 935,000 U.S. citizens live with DACA holders. It is a large chunk of our population, and they have done dramatic things to make this a better country.
DACA recipients greatly contribute to our labor force. They are teachers, nurses, workers, doctors, and more. They boost our economy, providing nearly $16 billion to the U.S. economy each year.
I have been coming to the Senate floor for 20 years telling the stories of Dreamers and DACA recipients. I don't think there is any better way to describe who they are and what they go through to try to become American citizens and be part of the future of this country.
I would like to highlight one of them today.
This is the 149th story of a Dreamer that I have shared on the floor of the Senate. Alondra O. was born in Mexico and moved to the St. Louis metropolitan area when she was 5 years old. She was a great student.
She became a member of the National Honor Society. She was certified as a nurse assistant, a patient care technician, and phlebotomist all by the time she graduated from high school. Her dream was to become a full-time registered nurse. Do we need more nurses? Absolutely.
Despite the national nursing shortage and her excellent qualifications, Alondra was unable to get a nursing license in her home State of Missouri because State law there prohibits DACA recipients from becoming nurses.
But she didn't give up.
Missouri's loss became my home State of Illinois's gain. And today, Alondra serves as an emergency department registered nurse in Alton, IL, just across the river from Missouri.
Sadly, Alondra still lives in fear today every day that all of her hard work would mean nothing if DACA is eliminated. She has lived in this country since she was 5 years old. She should not be forced to leave the only home she has ever known simply because Congress has failed to do its job to fix our broken immigration system.
Alondra should be able to work in this critical field where we desperately need nurses, wherever her services are most needed, and do so without fear of deportation.
I have heard a lot said in political campaigns about murderers, rapists, terrorists, and mentally deranged people who were seeking to make a future in the United States. What about Alondra? Does she fit any of those categories? Of course not.
She, against the odds, built a great reputation and a great resume, with her education, training, and work experience. She is doing work in her field in a part of our State where we desperately need nurses. She is no threat to anyone. She is not a danger. She is, in fact, a beacon of hope for those people who are sick and need a good nurse.
Unfortunately, there has been a relentless campaign to eliminate DACA and deport Dreamers, so the future for Alondra and other DACA recipients remains legally uncertain.
Basic question: Is America better off to have Alondra the nurse in Alton, IL, here or to deport her from the United States to a country she hasn't seen since she was 5 years old?
More than 100,000 Dreamers have initial DACA applications that are still pending. They are in limbo because for years we haven't allowed those who qualified to apply to join the ranks of DACA. DACA was always intended to be a temporary program to give Congress time to pass a permanent solution. We are not very good at passing anything in Congress.
Now in their 13th year, it is time for us to honor the Dreamers' patience, act on our promises, and provide them with a pathway to citizenship.
My mother was an immigrant to this country. I am proud of immigrants. Our family came here with nothing, not even speaking the language, worked hard, and established themselves.
My mother--eighth grade education, no experience in high school or college--raised three boys to serve this country. My two brothers were in the U.S. Navy, and I serve here in the U.S. Senate. Is immigration important for this country? The Durbin family believes that it is.
I am going to continue to fight for the Dreamers, continue to fight for DACA.
I urge my Republican colleagues, be thoughtful on the issue of immigration. Don't penalize Alondra, this wonderful young woman who has worked so hard to become a registered nurse in my State of Illinois. Give her a chance to make America and my State a better place.
We remember this anniversary of the DACA Program and thank President Obama for his vision to realize these young people could make this a better country and realize we have to be thoughtful when it comes to immigration.
If you are a danger to this country, we don't want you here, we don't want you coming here, but if you are going to make this a better place to live, we not only want you, we desperately need you. The DACA Program represents hundreds of thousands of young people who prove that every single day of their lives.
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