It will not expire until March 5. What
he ignores is the obvious: 15,000 protected young people lost that
protection during this period since September 5--122 a day are losing
that protection. Fortunately, last week, a California court stepped in and said: Stop
taking away the protection of DACA from these young people. So we have
a temporary stay, being challenged by the Trump administration, which
protects these young people for now, but that protection could end in a
court decision tomorrow. That is the reality of life for young people. Yesterday, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, we asked the Secretary
of the Department of Homeland Security: Do you believe the President
can extend his March 5 deadline for the end of DACA? She said: No; the President said he doesn't have that authority. Well, I will trust her statement and her judgment on that, but it
further should put to rest this argument made by Senator McConnell that
we have all the time in the world to deal with this issue. Let me tell you, on March 5--the deadline imposed by the President. As of March 5, horrible things will happen to innocent people. One
thousand young people a day, protected by DACA, will lose their
protection. I had one of them at the hearing yesterday. She is a young
woman who has used her extraordinary skills to apply to medical school,
and Loyola University Stritch College of Medicine accepted DACA-
protected young people for the first time. There are 28 of them in
their ranks. She wants to be a doctor. She has helped people in underserved areas
throughout her young career, but we know--everyone knows--that becoming
a doctor means serving a residency, working those long hours to learn
what it means to face clients or patients in a clinical setting. To
become a resident, you need to be employed to take that job. If this young woman, who has devoted so many years of her life to her
dream of being a doctor, loses the protection of DACA, she cannot apply
for residency. She is finished. There will be no further progress in
her medical education.