Speech #CREC-2017-06-15-pt1-PgS3505-6_t15

They are not citizens yet. They are productive people doing good things for America whom I want to make citizens if the DREAM Act becomes law. I have many differences with President Trump on immigration. For example, the President's January 25 Executive order makes up to 8 million immigrants priorities for deportation, and seeks to create a deportation force by tripling the number of immigration agents. This ignores the reality that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are law-abiding individuals who make important economic contributions to this country, and have deep roots in the United States. I am grateful, and I say that publicly. I have said it before. I am grateful President Trump has decided to keep the DACA Program in place. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Director nominee, Francis Cissna, have promised me personally and publicly that they will maintain the existing guidelines for the DACA Program. I appreciate this commitment. I intend to hold them to it. Congress also has an obligation to do its job. We ought to do something we rarely do in the U.S. Senate--pass legislation, fix our broken immigration system. Think about this: On June 27, 2013--4 years ago--the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, passed comprehensive immigration reform by a vote of 68 to 32, better than 2 to 1. I was glad to be part of the Gang of 8 Democratic and Republican Senators who worked for months on the bill that passed by this margin. It strengthened border security, protected American workers, and it established a tough but fair path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people in this country. Unfortunately, the Republican majority of the House of Representatives would not debate it, would not consider it, would not bring it for a vote, and it died in the U.S. House of Representatives.