Trump Administration
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. First, I thank my colleague from Oregon for his endurance and determination in hanging in there.
He is bringing up a critical issue and subject for America at a critical moment, but I would like to return to an issue we discussed this morning when I was visiting, and that is the issue of the militarization of our Federal Government and its impact on States like yours of Oregon and mine of Illinois.
What I am finding as I read the newspaper accounts is that the ICE operation from the Department of Homeland Security in Illinois continues to intimidate people who live in the city, in their neighborhoods, and all around, and bring fear to parts of the city of Chicago. Little Village and Pilsen are the ones most well known.
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Mr. DURBIN. It is a legitimate point.
Will you yield for a question--
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Mr. DURBIN.--for the Chair?
The point I am trying to make is there are areas of the city of Chicago and I am sure in your State of Oregon where the intimidation factor has reached a point where people are worried about literally going to church, going to work, taking their kids to school. It is a genuine problem.
Just last week, an individual took his child to daycare, left the motor running in his car and took the little toddler into daycare. He came out the door and was arrested and detained and removed from that scene, specifically, while the motor was still running in his car. That is the kind of thing that is happening. It isn't as if they are targeting criminals; they are going after people who look like they are Hispanic. There are many who live in our city, and I am glad to have them. They are wonderful people.
I would like to ask, in your State, what kind of intimidation, if any, is taking place through this military operation of the President?
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Mr. DURBIN. Or more.
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Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator would yield?
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Mr. DURBIN. Over the course of my service in the Senate, one of the things that I was proudest of and am still proud of was the formation of the so-called Gang of 8--four Republicans and four Democrats who sat down to write a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Senator McCain led the effort on the Republican side, and Senator Schumer joined me with others on the Democratic side. We produced a measure that had the support of business and labor and Democrats and Republicans.
We brought it to the floor of the U.S. Senate and passed it with over 60 votes. It was a glorious day and a great celebration. What was it all about? It was all about the 11 million undocumented people in the United States coming forward and registering with this government who they are, where they live, and they pay a fine for coming to this country without documentation. They then don't automatically become citizens, but they are allowed to work. They wouldn't be deported, and they can live a normal life, paying their taxes and doing what people who are in this country do normally.
It was an attempt to try to regularize the information, to account for the 11 million, and to say that was going to be an accounting, which would give us some stability in this country on the issue of immigration. The fact is, it would have done just that.
Unfortunately, it was never taken up by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. We passed it here in the Senate. It included the Dream Act, and it was a step forward.
I contrast it today with what we are faced with: full-scale battles and war over immigration in cities across this country. It is unnecessary. There are ways to resolve this fairly, humanely, and in an American fashion. I hope the Senator from Oregon agrees with me.
It is time for us to sit down and do this. Hiring more ICE agents is not going to resolve the issue of immigration. Having a law that is enforceable, rational, humane, and American in its nature is the best way, as far as I am concerned.
I ask the Senator for his reaction.
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Mr. DURBIN. I would like to just make one last comment, if I can--
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Mr. DURBIN.--in the nature of a question.
Just a few feet away from where we are in the Chamber is my Capitol office, and on my credenza behind my desk is my mother's naturalization certificate for all to see. I am a proud immigrant.
She came to this country at the age of 2. Her mother did not speak English but brought three children on a boat from Germany to Baltimore and ultimately to Illinois, where I grew up and my mother spent her life. It was an indication of the American dream, as far as I am concerned. Her son not only got a government job but was elected to the Senate, so good things happen.
But I think it is a story of immigration--a story that is repeated over and over again by families that come into this country, determined to succeed. It makes us a better nation and always has.
Has the Senator run into that in the State of Oregon?
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Mr. DURBIN. In the nature of a question, I ask the Senator from Oregon, is he aware of the fact that we have approximately 700 immigration judges facing that backlog you just described, and the Trump administration has dismissed 100 of them? So instead of adding more judges so we can expedite the hearings and resolve them, the opposite has been the case. Was the Senator aware of that?
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Mr. DURBIN. It certainly is.
I would also ask the Senator, when it comes to--
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Mr. DURBIN. In the nature of a question, when it comes to the issue of due process, the question is whether or not we can, in this country, offer due process to the people who are asking for their fate to be resolved. That has been part of our Constitution applying not only to citizens but those who are in our country petitioning to become citizens.
Does the Senator agree with me that due process is a critical part of our democracy?
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Mr. DURBIN. We face this reality now with children. I just described it earlier. The question I would ask you is this--
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Mr. DURBIN.--does the Senator believe that these unaccompanied children need to have humane treatment at all times?
You told the story earlier of going down to the border and watching what happened under previous administrations. Would the Senator recount that story at this point?
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Mr. DURBIN. Would the Senator yield for another question? It would be my last question.
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Mr. DURBIN. Is the Senator aware of the fact that 2 weeks ago ICE offered to children under the age of 18--and they were children--an option of a $2,400 reward if they would leave the country and go back to the country of their birth? Children were being asked to sign a contract to give up any claim to citizenship in the United States, and the $2,400 was available to an adult that they would identify in their country who would meet their airplane.
With all of the trafficking that has been going on, it was a ridiculous idea to take children and ask them to make that decision and to give them a financial reward if they went along.
Was the Senator aware of that?
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Mr. DURBIN. That was the detail.
I am going to yield the floor and thank the Senator.
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