Speech #CREC-2017-12-19-pt1-PgS8076_t0

But yesterday was not the happiest occasion. It was sad and worrisome. I met with about 20 of the students there, all of whom have been protected by DACA. DACA was President Obama's Executive order that was issued in 2012. That Executive order said that if you were brought to the United States as a child, an infant, a toddler, a young person, and grew up in this country undocumented; if you had no problems of any serious nature with the law; if you finished your education; if you went through a criminal background check and paid a fee, you would be protected and be able to stay in America 2 years at a time to go to school, to work, whatever your aspirations may be. Under President Obama's Executive order, 780,000 young people came forward, and the 20 I met at Benito Juarez were among them. They got the protection they needed to legally get a job. For a lot of these young students, that is a critical part of their lives because, being undocumented, they don't qualify for any Federal assistance to go to college. If they want to go to college, they have to save up for it, and they have to find the money and work for the tuition and other expenses. So getting a job is a very important part of it. These young people, as they went through the DACA process, knew that they were safe from being deported. That is a fear which many of us can't even understand, but it is a real fear for many people in this country who are here undocumented. So for these young people, they have that chance. On September 5, President Trump announced he was ending the DACA protection program as of March 5 of next year, putting an end to the protection these young people have. As their DACA expires, they will be vulnerable to deportation. They will reach the point where they can no longer work in America. The end of DACA as we know it will dramatically change the lives of thousands of young people. It will change the lives of 900 of these DACA-protected young people who volunteered to serve in our military-- currently serving in our military, willing to risk their lives for a country that will not give them legal status. Imagine that for a moment. If they had to prove that they really cared about America, what more could they do then to put their lives on the line? They have done it, 900 of them. When DACA goes away on March 5 of next year, they have to leave the military service. That is the end of their opportunity to serve America. Many of them are in the military because they bring special skills and special capacities to lead. We will lose them. It will mean that 20,000 of these DACA-protected young people, when it goes away for them, will no longer be able to teach--20,000 teachers across America. I met one of them yesterday, Katherine Galeano. Katherine, whom I had met before, is a special-ed teacher.