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Floor Speech

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Ms. ROSEN. Mr. President, as we approach the 13th anniversary of DACA, I rise today in support of this program and the thousands of Nevadans who rely on it.

My State of Nevada is home to more than 12,000 DACA beneficiaries who know of no other country as their own. They grew up in our communities and contribute to our Nation and to our economy. They are our neighbors, our friends, our family members. Many of them are now even raising their own families here--sending their kids to school, taking them to soccer practice, and going to the park on weekends.

But Washington has failed them. What started out as a temporary program meant to protect Dreamers, while Congress worked to pass a more permanent solution, has turned into a decades-long lifeline for so many. Washington's gridlock and its inability to pass comprehensive immigration reform, with a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, has left them to depend on DACA. It has also opened the doors to attacks from the Trump administration and rightwing extremists.

During his first term, Donald Trump rescinded DACA and threw this critical program into a tailspin, leaving the future of Dreamers and their families to depend on court case after court case.

Can anyone in this Chamber imagine the stress, the fear, the uncertainty that they have had to endure all of these years, not knowing if they would be separated from their families or not?

In his second term, Trump has been relentless--relentless--in attacking and separating hard-working, law-abiding immigrant families, increasing fear and worry in our immigrant communities, including DACA recipients.

If DACA were to end, millions of Dreamers across our Nation would be at risk of having to leave the only country they have ever known, the only place they have ever called home. Parents would face separation from their children, leaving families forever traumatized. And our economy and communities would greatly suffer.

And just imagine--just imagine--the message we would be sending. Nevadans who have done everything right since they arrived in our State, Nevadans who were brought here as kids through no fault of their own and who followed the rules when government asked them to--who followed the rules--Nevadans who have graduated college, Nevadans who have served in the military, Nevadans who have started businesses in our communities, Nevadans who are currently protected could now lose the only life they have ever known.

So it is past time that politicians in Washington stopped using Dreamers as a political football and finally passed a law that permanently protects them. These hard-working Americans deserve to have peace of mind, and they deserve a life without fear.

I want Dreamers to know they have allies in their corner. As Nevada's Senator, I will do everything in my power to protect all of our communities and keep families--keep families--together. Since day one in the Senate, I have been pushing my colleagues to come together, in a bipartisan way, to pass a permanent solution, one that gives Dreamers permanent protections and a pathway to citizenship--a pathway to citizenship now, now--while we continue to work on comprehensive immigration reform that this country so surely needs--surely needs. It shouldn't be a partisan issue.

As long as I am in the Senate, I won't stop fighting for it. I want everyone to know that, in the meantime, I will continue to do everything in my power to protect DACA and the thousands of Nevadans who rely on it.

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