Budget Reconciliation

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, so now we are going to consider a reconciliation bill to spend tens of billions of dollars for ICE and CBP. We all know the story of ICE. We saw it on the streets of Chicago, Minneapolis, and many other places.

Do you know what is interesting? As I was walking through the airport and all of these policemen were coming in for Police Week this week in Washington--wearing their formal uniforms, smart looking as they were-- I didn't see a single one of them with a mask on their face. Yet ICE continues to argue it is the only police force in America that should be masked and the American people shouldn't be able to identify who these ICE agents are. I think that is reprehensible. We are trying to change it, and the Republicans are resisting it. I don't know why.

Let me say also that there is no reference in this budget reconciliation package to language that would rein in lawless immigration agents who are terrorizing communities like Chicago and Minneapolis while carrying out the President's mass deportation campaign.

Just this last week, we had a press conference in Chicago to talk about those who are here in the United States under DACA. DACA is a product of the DREAM Act, which I introduced 22 years ago--a provision in the law which we need to enact which says that if you are here in the United States, brought into the country as a child, that you ought to have an opportunity to earn your way to citizenship.

These young men and women grew up in America, pledged allegiance to that flag in their classroom every single day, and believed they were part of America's future, only to learn when they had become teenagers that their parents brought them in and didn't file the appropriate papers, so now they are subject to deportation.

The DREAM Act addressed that issue, and I called on President Obama and asked him to use his Executive powers to give these Dreamers a chance. He created a program called DACA.

Under the DACA Program, if you were one of the Dreamers, every 2 years, you are to be registering with the government and paying a $600 fee and going through a criminal background check so that you can continue to work in the United States and not be deported.

So what happened 2 weeks ago? The bureau of immigration came out with a ruling that DACA no longer protected these individuals. How many were affected? Originally, 800,000-plus; today, somewhere in the range of 500,000. They run the very real risk now that if they try to sign up again for DACA, as they are entitled to under President Obama's Executive order, they could be arrested and deported. For more and more of them, that is happening as the weeks go by, and we held a press conference in Chicago to talk about that.

That is ICE at work. That is CBP at work. And unfortunately, these young people, who have no criminal background--they have gone through criminal background checks and are showing up, as required, to pay their fee every 2 years so they can work legally in the United States-- are subject to deportation.

There is also a provision in this bill--hard to believe--of $1 billion for President Trump's White House ballroom--a billion-dollar ballroom--the same ballroom that he promised the American people wouldn't cost them a penny. He was going to go to his buddies, as he always does, and they were going to come up with the money, and the American people wouldn't have to pay anything. Guess what. The budget reconciliation bill presented by Republicans in the Senate this week requires $1 billion for this ``Great Gatsby'' ballroom that the President wants to see. I think that is a horrendous waste of time and money, and it did not go through the appropriate channels.

The President just plowed down the East Wing of the White House, and it sits there as a gaping hole waiting to be filled. It was going to be his billionaire buddies to fill it; now, it is the American taxpayers-- $1 billion. I distinctly recall the President saying that the taxpayers would not have to pay for this.

Add it to that endless list of broken promises--the President ending the Ukrainian war on his first day in office and a long list of contradictions when it comes to the war with Iran. Depending on the day of the week, we are either proceeding with a war or ending a war, wiping them off the face of the Earth or sitting down and negotiating. It is impossible to follow what his strategy might be, and that is just more of the same when it comes to this President.

Mr. President, when it comes to the DACA children, who are now adults, we have to accept the obvious. We made a promise to them--many of us did--which can't be kept under this President.

I remember that day when DACA became official and people could sign up for it. Congressman Luis Gutierrez and I held a meeting at Navy Pier in Chicago, expecting perhaps 800 people to show up. The number was way in excess of 10,000. Some of them waited all night to bring their children in to sign up for this.

There was an initial hesitation by many. They argued: If we identify ourselves to the government under Obama, who is to say that government won't turn on us, arrest us, and deport us?

We gave them our word that we would stand by the promise that we would not use this information they were filing with the government against them in the future. That promise was kept through President Obama, through President Biden, but it hasn't been kept by this administration. Those who are protected by DACA today run the risk-- when they go to the Federal Government to sign up and renew their DACA protection--of being detained and deported. We did not keep our promise to these young people, and I feel very badly about that.

Let me also say that we are going to have a hearing this week, a spotlight hearing by Democrats, to have these DACA recipients come before us and explain what has happened to their lives. It is heartbreaking. They deserve a chance to be part of America's future. They are doctors, teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, policemen, military. They are part of America and its future. To blame them as being the worst of the worst and they should be deported is grossly unfair.

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