The DREAM Act

Floor Speech

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, last night I was on a conference call. It was an unusual one. There were 8,000 people on this conference call. I have never been on a conference call like that. They were from all across the United States of America. We spoke for a few minutes and then took questions.

A young woman came on. She didn't give her name but she said, I want to tell you who I am. I am a person who is about to graduate from a major university in California with a degree in pharmacy and I have nowhere to go.

You see, she is a Hispanic who came to the United States at an early age, brought here by her parents. She defied the odds by finishing high school. Half of the Hispanic students do not. She did. Then she defied the odds even more by going to college. Only one in twenty in her status actually attends college in America. Then she stuck around for 5 years-plus to get her degree in pharmacy science.

We know for a fact we need pharmacists desperately across America, everywhere, in North Carolina and New Mexico and Illinois--we need pharmacists. Why aren't we using the talent of this ambitious, energetic, successful, young woman? Because she has no country. She is in America but she is not an American. She has no status.

The DREAM Act, which I introduced 10 years ago, addresses this challenge across America. Children, brought to America without a vote in the process, children who came here and made their lives here, grew up in America, as Senator Menendez has said on the floor, standing up and proudly pledging allegiance to that flag, standing up and singing the Star Spangled Banner at baseball and football games--but they know and we know that they are not Americans. They feel like Americans. Many of them have never seen and don't know the country they came from. This is their country. But because they were brought here not in legal status, undocumented, they have nowhere to turn.

The first time I heard about this issue was when a Korean woman called me in Chicago. She was a single mom with three kids. She ran a dry cleaners and her older daughter was a musical prodigy, in fact so good she had been accepted at the Julliard School of Music in New York. Before she went to school she filled out the application form and came to a box which said ``nationality/citizenship.'' She turned to her mom and she said: U.S. nationality, right? Her mom said: No, we brought you here at the age of 2 and we never filed any papers. Her daughter said: What are we going to do? Her mom said: We are going to call Durbin. So they called my office and we called the Immigration Service and when the conversation ended it was very clear. Our government said to that young girl: You have one choice--leave. Go back to Korea.

After 16 years of living successfully in the United States and making a great young life, our laws told her to leave because she was illegal. That is a basic injustice. It makes no sense to hold children responsible for any wrongdoing by their parents, children at the age of 2 who are now going to be penalized the rest of their natural life because their mother did not file a paper? Penalized because we have no process for her to have an opportunity to be part of the United States?

So I introduced the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act says if you have been here for at least 5 years and came below the age of 15 and completed high school, no serious criminal record, a person in good moral standing ready to be interviewed, speaking English, paying all the taxes and fines and fees that are thrown your way, then if you are willing to do one of two things we will give you a chance to be legal in the United States. No. 1, enlist in the military. If you are willing to risk your life and die for America, I think you are deserving of an opportunity for citizenship. Second, if you complete 2 years of college--which, as I say, defies the odds; it is a small percentage who would be able to do this--if you are able to complete 2 years of college, then here is what the bill says: We will put you in a 10-year conditional immigrant status.

Let me translate. For 10 years you have no legal rights to any government programs in America--not Medicaid if you get sick, not Pell grants if you go further in college, no student loans--nothing. You can stay here legally but you cannot draw one penny from this government during 10 years after you have finished high school and qualify under this act; 10 years.

Along the way we are going to keep an eye on you. If you stumble and fall--criminal record--you are gone. No exceptions; for felons, they are gone. Basically, we will continue to ask hard questions of you as to how you are doing.

In the version of the bill we are going to vote on, you are going to pay a fee, $500 at the outset and more later. Under that House provision, those students struggling to get by with no right to government assistance by our bill will have to spend 10 years in this country. If they make it--2 years in the military or 2 years of college and they

finish their 10 years--then they get in line and wait 3 to 5 years more before they can ever have a chance to be citizens.

It is a long, hard process that not many Americans today could survive. Some of these kids will because they have made it thus far. They are determined, they are idealistic, they are energetic. They are just what America needs.

Do you know what Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, said about this:

They are just the kind of immigrants we need to help solve our unemployment problem. Some of them will go on to create new small businesses and hire people. It is senseless for us to chase out the home-grown talent that has the potential to contribute so significantly to our society.

Will these DREAM Act students be a drag, then, once they are part of America? Not according to the Congressional Budget Office. They concluded that the DREAM Act would produce $2.2 billion in net revenues over 10 years. How can that be? Because these DREAM Act students would contribute to our economy by working and paying taxes. These are students who are destined to be successful.

Who believes they will be successful? Start at the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Gates has asked for us to pass the DREAM Act. He has said that these bright, young, dedicated people will be great in service to America. He knows that many of them come from cultural traditions of service to their country and he wants that talent in the U.S. military and he wants that diversity in our military. Fifteen percent of America today is Hispanic. The number is growing. Almost 10 percent of the people who vote in America are Hispanic and we want to make certain our military is as strong as it can be and reflects America as it is and what we want to it be.

We will have a chance to vote. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, has said we are going to vote on the DREAM Act this year--and we must, we absolutely must. We owe it to these young people, we owe it to their families, and we owe it to this country to rectify this terrible injustice.

There comes a time occasionally in the history of this country where we have a chance to right a wrong. We fought for decades over righting the wrong of slavery, the mistreatment of African Americans. We fought for decades to right the wrong of discrimination against women--denied the right to vote under our original Constitution. We fought for decades for the rights of the disabled in America. Each generation gets its chance to expand the definition of freedom and liberty and expand the reach of citizenship and the protection of our laws. This is our chance. This is a simple matter of justice.

I have listened to some of my colleagues on the other side who do not support it and they have said, if we would spend more money on border security, then maybe, just maybe I would be willing to give these young people a chance.

First, if there were no border security, it would not enlarge the number of people protected here. You have to have been in the United States for 5 years in order to qualify here so any newcomers to the United States are not going to be eligible anyway. But let's get to the point. I support border security. We need a strong border. We need to make sure those who are illegal, undocumented, do not come across that border. I have voted for the money, I voted for the fences, I voted for the walls, I voted for everything they called for, and we have dramatically under this President increased the border security in America and I will vote for more. I will vote for more. I give my word to my colleagues I will.

I have said to Senators from those border States: Count on me to be with you. But don't hold these children hostage to that demand. Don't hold them hostage to that demand because border security in and of itself has nothing to do with justice for them.

Others have argued we want to make sure at the end of the day they can never become legal citizens of the United States. Never? After living their lives in this country, never? I would say: Go to the back of the line. And they should. Wait in line patiently, even if it takes 15 years. That is only fair. But never?

Others have said we should give them the military option. If they join the military, then we will let them become citizens. I don't think that is right and I don't believe the military would support that either because many would be applying for the military who are not inspired to serve in the military but are only doing it for the purpose of this law. Let's let those who are not going in the military have their own avenue, their own path to legalization by education and achievement in this society, not in the military.

I would also say to my friends and colleagues, some have argued it is a little too close to Christmas for us to worry about an issue such as this. We ought to go home. These young people are home and they are asking for us to pass the DREAM Act so that home will welcome them.

America is the only home they have ever known. I am willing to stay a day or two or more, whatever it takes, so we can pass this bill, right this injustice, and give these young people a chance.

The House has done its part. They passed a bill last week. Congressman LUIS GUTIERREZ and Congressman HOWARD BERMAN did a wonderful job in passing this legislation. It is good legislation. We have had 57 votes on the floor of the Senate but because of our rules you need 60. All I am asking is some of the Republicans who have told me in their heart of hearts they support this and worry about it politically, to put themselves in the shoes of our predecessors in the Senate who, when given a chance to expand the civil rights--of African Americans, of women, of the disabled--said that justice trumps politics. We will stand on the side of justice and let history be the judge. That is the challenge we have with the DREAM Act.

I urge my colleagues, support the DREAM Act. Let's give these young people a chance to make America an even greater nation.

I yield the floor.

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