Dream Act

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, 10 years ago, I received a telephone call in my Chicago office that I have recounted on this floor many times. But it started me on a journey that resulted in where we stand today on the passage of the DREAM Act. It was a phone call from a Korean-American mother with an amazing daughter who was a musical prodigy who had been accepted at the Juilliard School of music in the Acting President pro tempore's home State of New York.

This excited young woman, in filling out the application, came to the question about her citizenship and nationality and turned to her mother and said: What do I put here? And her mother had to tell her the sad news that when that young girl was brought to America from Korea, at the age of 2, the mother did not file any papers and so that young girl was literally undocumented, literally illegal in the eyes of some.

She asked us for help. What can we do to help in this situation? Here was a bright young woman, with a bright future, who had done everything right and excelled in so many ways. We contacted the Immigration Service and they said: It is too bad. Under American law, this young girl--who never consciously did anything wrong in her life--was a person without a country. Her only recourse at the age of 18 was to return to Korea--a country she had no knowledge of, could not speak the language, and had never visited anytime in her life.

When I heard about that, I thought that was fundamentally unfair. This young woman did nothing wrong. The mother made the mistake. The mother did not file the papers. And now her life was in shambles, and uncertain because of it.

So I put in a bill which basically said: If you are in that situation, where you were brought to America at a young age, and then proceed to do the right thing with your life--go to school, make certain you were a good member of your community--we will give you a chance when you have graduated from high school, a chance to prove yourself, that you were going to be a good citizen in America.

You could prove it one of two ways. You could do a noble act for America, stand up and volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces, literally prepared to risk your life for this great Nation--and if you did that, then we would put you on the path to legalization--or

if you didn't choose the military service, you could prove it by your educational achievement.

Now, most of the people we are talking about are not Korean or Polish or Filipino. They are Hispanic, and the numbers tell us the odds are against the young people we are talking about. Half of them don't finish high school. Only 5 percent of these undocumented students end up going into a college of any kind. Think about those odds: 50-50 that you will finish high school and 1 out of 20 that you will even enter college.

So we put up a high wall and said: You have to clear this wall to prove that you are not only a good person but that you desperately want to be part of America's future. That is the DREAM Act.

In the process we said: We are going to ask you more questions than we ask of a Congressman or a Senator. We are going to ask questions about your background, your moral character, your knowledge of English. We are going to follow you closely and carefully, and if you stumble along the way, we can't help you. It is a very strict standard we impose, but it is one that these young people are anxious to meet.

These young people who will be affected by the DREAM Act are some of the most amazing, inspiring people I have ever met. From the Presiding Officer's home State of New York, as a young man, Cesar Vargas--I told his story on the Senate floor yesterday--came to America from Mexico at the age of 5. He went through school. Then, on 9/11, he was so angry about what happened in the Presiding Officer's city of New York, he went to the recruiter and said: I want to enlist in the military. I want to serve and defend this country against terrorism.

They said: Mr. Vargas, you can't because you are undocumented. You can't join because, you see, our military has not waived the requirement of legal status for those who want to enlist. So he continued his education. He is now in his second or third year at the New York University Law School. I have met him. He is an extraordinary man. He speaks five languages. As the Presiding Officer knows, he could be a catch for a law firm--this young man, with all of these skills and all that drive. That is not his goal. He wants to be a part of our military still, to be a lawyer in the military today. That is his ambition.

He is a DREAM Act young man. Why would we say no to him? Why would we turn our backs on him and say: We don't need you. We know better. The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, has said: Yes, we need him and many more like him who can come into our military and make a better and stronger and more diverse military and build up a tradition of service in the military which will extend for generations forward. Secretary Gates knows the DREAM Act is in the best interests of the defense of America.

Secretary Arne Duncan, our Education Secretary, appeared with me yesterday and said these young people who have overcome the odds and finished high school and want to go to college and be lawyers and engineers and doctors and teachers are the people who can build our base of success in the future. Why would we turn them away? At a time when we are debating about importing talent from other countries to meet our needs in America, why would we turn away the talent in America, those who are here today and only asking for a chance?

Last night, in the House of Representatives, there was an amazing vote, an incredible vote, passing the DREAM Act. I believe it is the first time it has passed the House of Representatives. I want to credit my colleague and great friend, Congressman LUIS GUTIERREZ, who worked night and day, and I also wish to thank the men and women of the House who showed the courage to vote for it. One of them called me late last night and was emotional about this decision, wondering if it would have a long-term impact on his political career. But that Congressperson had the courage to step up and do it.

Now the question is, Will we have the courage to do the same? Our leader, Majority Leader Reid, has asked to vitiate the rollcall vote this morning, which is basically putting it aside, because he believes the bill is not a bill that is viable under the circumstances now that the House bill has passed. The minority leader, Senator McConnell, has come to the Senate floor repeatedly and said we should not be having these so-called symbolic votes, even on the DREAM Act. This morning, Senator Reid said: Let's take a symbolic vote off the calendar and wait until we receive the House message. There was an objection from the Republican side so, clearly, they are arguing it from both sides.

Be that as it may, we owe it to the young men and women whose lives will be affected, we owe it to America who needs their service in the military and needs their skill in building our economy to honestly address this issue and ask Members of both sides to sit down, pause, and reflect as to whether we can afford to say to these talented young men and women: There is no place in America for you.

There is a place. There is a place for them, as there was a place for my mother, who came to this country at the age of 2 as an immigrant, whose mother and father could barely speak the English language but who eventually gave birth to a son who stands here today as the Senator from the State of Illinois. My story is an American story, and the story of these DREAM Act students is an American story of fighting against the odds, of coming from other places, determined to be a part of this great Nation and making a contribution that makes a difference.

I pray my colleagues will reflect on what happened last night--the historic vote of passing the DREAM Act--and that before this Congress packs up and leaves, we will address this issue and pass it too.

I see the minority leader is on the floor.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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