Political Quotes

“Mr. President, Senator Durbin has been leading a group of us talking about DACA, or the Dreamers. I wish to tell the Senate two stories. I wish to tell you about Elisha Dawkins. He was a baby who was brought from the Bahamas at age 6 months. He grew up in America. He grew up in Jacksonville, FL. He never knew anything about his roots. He only knew that he was in America. He served two tours in Iraq. He came back and joined the Navy Reserve. He had a top secret clearance and was sent to the very sensitive post of Guantanamo, where he was given a job as a photographer--obviously, a very sensitive position. Through an application for a passport and checking on the background of the passport, it came to be learned that he had come to America as an infant, and for what reason--for the life of me, it has not been explained--he was arrested and thrown in jail by a U.S. attorney. Once this case came to the light of day and some of us started speaking out about it, a Federal district judge took it in her hands to lecture the U.S. attorney, and only because of that, Elisha Dawkins was released from jail. As a result, we then started getting into it, and Elisha Dawkins was finally given his citizenship, and he is now serving in his native Jacksonville. He is a nurse. Here is an individual who had served two tours in Iraq and was in a top secret clearance in the service to the Navy Reserve in Guantanamo. This just shouldn't happen.…”