BENNET. Mr. President, tonight I rise to address another issue--
the Trump administration's decision to end the program known as DACA. DACA provided deportation relief to nearly 800,000 undocumented
immigrants who came to this country as children. Those kids grew up in
America alongside America's children, playing on our Little League
teams, running for student government, marching in the school band. Just like America's kids, they showed up to class, they did their
homework, and they pushed forward with every expectation of building a
future for themselves and for their communities. The only difference
between them is that the kids covered by DACA came to America as
undocumented immigrants. Many of these kids didn't even know they didn't have legal status. I
know this firsthand because I used to be the Superintendent of the
Denver Public Schools. It was about ninth grade that children would
realize--children who had no country other than the United States as
their home--that they didn't have legal status because they had come
here through no fault of their own without documented status. A lot of these kids found out the hard way, applying for jobs that
asked for papers they didn't have, applying for financial aid they were
ineligible to receive, and coping with the possibility of being ripped
away from friends and family at any time. DACA ended that. It stopped
it. Nationwide, it protected nearly 800,000 young adults from
deportation and gave them lawful presence in the only country they knew
to build a future. That is precisely what they have done. Since DACA was enacted, the young people who enrolled in the program
have grown into young adults. They have found jobs. They pay taxes.
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