Speech #1140037075

Soon he will take a major step toward that goal. This coming school year. Cesar will be a medical and Ph.D. student at Loyola University in Chicago. "DACA has changed my life." he said. "Within two to three years. I went from working in landscaping to becoming a medical student." The stories of Cesar. Jazmin. and Yazmin represent what makes this country great. They are inspiring. and there are hundreds of thousands of DREAMers like them across this country. Immigrants make the United States a more prosperous nation. In New Mexico. our States remarkable history is rooted in our diversity. our history. and our culture. which has always been enriched by our immigrant communities and their family members. My own father is an immigrant who came to America from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. and I am sure many of us in this Chamber have immigrant roots in our own families which have contributed to Americas success story. We are not a country that kicks out our best and brightest students. and we are not a nation that tears families apart. The current DACA Program is only a temporary solution. DACA recipients have to renew every 2 years in order to maintain their deferred status. but that is no way to live. It is unfair for these DREAMers to live their lives 2 years at a time. We desperately need robust immigration reform. Now. lets step back for a moment and remember that the Senate passed a comprehensive. bipartisan immigration bill almost 2 years ago now. That bill would have modernized our immigration system to meet the needs of our economy. provided an accountable pathway to earned citizenship for the undocumented workers currently living in the shadows. including making the DREAM Act the law of the land. and it would have dramatically strengthened security at our borders. Accountable immigration reform received 68 votes in this body and demonstrated the kind of legislation we can pass when we work together. As a nation. we value the twin promises of freedom and opportunity. Those ideals are important no matter where you were born. However. too many of my Republican colleagues dont see it that way. Several of them want to rescind or even defund DACA and roll back the progress we have made over the past 3 years. Why would we end such a successful program? What I would say to those who do this is come back to the table and work with us to pass immigration reform. We need pragmatic solutions to fix our broken immigration laws. and we need them now. Lets make the dream a reality after all. Madam President.