These young people are fiercely patriotic. In every way that
truly matters, they are Americans. Listen to this: 95 percent of DACA recipients are working or in
school. That is 95 percent of 800,000. The typical DACA recipient came
to this country at 6 years old. They have known no home other than this
one. Many of them only speak English. Seventy-two percent of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies--companies
such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, J.P. Morgan--employ DACA recipients. DACA recipients are contributing significantly to our economy. It is
estimated that ending the program would mean a $460.3 billion hit to
the GDP over the next decade. But protecting DACA recipients isn't a matter of politics or
economics; it is really about what is right as Americans and human
beings. This is particularly important for me, representing California,
because 1 in 4 Dreamers--223,000--live, work, and study in California,
and I can testify that they are an essential part of the fabric of our
communities. So it is important for Senators and the American public to
know the very real human side to this issue.