His partnership with Senator Lindsey Graham is
inspiring. I want to begin by thanking Senator Durbin and Senator Graham for
leading this effort and making it bipartisan and making it possible for
us to talk about an issue as Americans and not as Democrats and
Republicans and having a discussion about who falls into the category
of being an American who is entitled to the benefits of being in this
country. For the last 5 years, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals--or
DACA--Program has created security and opportunity for young immigrants
across this country. Now, the futures of some 800,000 young people--
7,900 of them in Massachusetts--have been needlessly put in jeopardy
because President Donald Trump feels the need to keep an ill-considered
campaign promise made to his base and to break another one made to the
best and brightest of our young people by repealing DACA. And because
the House of Representatives has refused to debate and hold a vote on
comprehensive immigration reform legislation, our immigration system
remains tragically broken. Yesterday, I met one of these Dreamers, Diana Ortiz. Her mother
brought her to the United States nearly 20 years ago.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants DACA