On the recordFebruary 7, 2018
once again, I rise to talk about the Dreamers. I thank Senator Durbin for his leadership. I know the leader will be coming in shortly, and I will yield when he arrives. I thank Senator Durbin for leading the Dream Act with Senator Graham--for negotiating for years and years to get support on the Republican side of the aisle, for never giving up, and for telling the stories, as we have just heard, to bring this home to people--so people understand that this is not just a number, that this is not just a statistic, that this is not just someone whom you call a name. These are people who are part of the United States of America. Ninety-seven percent of them work or are in school. The average age they were brought over was 6\1/2\ years old. Like Senator Durbin, Senator Graham, and many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I am and always have been committed to passing a legislative solution to protect Dreamers. I appreciate the Presiding Officer's interest in this issue and the group that we have, the Common Sense Caucus, that has been working together in debating this and trying to come together to allow for the Dreamers to have a path to citizenship, to allow them to stay in our country, to stop the deportation of what would be something like 800,000 people--something the President of the United States has firmly said he does not want to do. He wants to see a path to citizenship along with increased border security.…
