Chris Van Hollen: “I came here to the floor to talk about the Dreamers, and I do think that it is important to start by making the point…”

“I came here to the floor to talk about the Dreamers, and I do think that it is important to start by making the point that many of those Dreamers are serving in our Armed Forces today. They have put their lives at risk for the only country that they know, which is the United States of America. It was just shortly after the November election, when then-President- Elect Trump told Time Magazine, when he was talking about Dreamers: We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud. He was referring to the Dreamers. He continues: They got brought here at a very young age, they've worked here, they've gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they're in never-never land because they don't know what's going to happen. That is what President Trump said right after the election. Yesterday, he delivered the cruel news about what would happen 6 months from now if this Congress doesn't act, which is that those Dreamers will be at risk of being thrown out of our country. They will be at risk of being deported from the United States of America. So the very President who said he was going to do something to make people ``happy and proud'' did something that was sad and shameful in our country. A majority of Americans agree that it is wrong to deport the Dreamers. Not just majorities of Democrats or Independents but also majorities of Republicans recognize that it is the wrong thing to do.…”