MR. PRESIDENT, I RISE TO TALK ABOUT THE DREAMERS. I KNOW THE LEADER WILL COMING IN SHORTLY, AND I WILL YIELD WHEN HE ARRIVES. BUT I WANTED TO THANK SENATOR DURBIN FOR LEADING THE DREAM ACT AND FOR NEGOTIATING FOR YEARS AND YEARS TO GET SUPPORT ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE OF THE AISLE AND FOR NEVER GIVING UP AND TELLING THE STORIES LIKE WE JUST HEARD TO BRING THIS HOME TO PEOPLE SO PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THIS ISN'T JUST A NUMBER, THIS ISN'T JUST A STATISTIC, THIS ISN'T JUST SOMEONE YOU CALL A NAME. THESE ARE PEOPLE THAT ARE PART OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 97% OF THEM WORK OR ARE IN SCHOOL. THE AVERAGE AGE THEY WERE BROUGHT OVER, 6 AND A HALF YEARS OLD. LIKE SENATOR DURBIN, SENATOR GRAHAM, AND MANY OF MY COLLEAGUES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE I HAVE AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN COMMITTED TO PASSING A LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION TO PROBLGHT DREAMERS. I -- PROBLGHT DREAMERS. I APPRECIATE THE PRESIDING OFFICER'S POSITION. WE HAVE TRIED TO COME TOGETHER ON A PATH THAT WOULD ALLOW FOR THE DREAMERS TO HAVE A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP, 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 AND THAT HE WANTS TO SEE A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP ALONG WITH INCREASED BORDER SECURITY. I SEE THAT THE LEADER HAS ARRIVED AND I WILL CONTINUE MY REMARKS WHEN HE HAS COMPLETED HIS. THANK YOU, I YIELD THE FLOOR.

AND I WILL CONTINUE MY REMARKS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF PASSING THE DREAM ACT AND ALSO THE WORK OF THE COMMONSENSE CAUCUS OF WHICH THE PRESIDING OFFICER HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN TO TRY TO FIND A PATH FORWARD TO PROTECT THESE DREAMERS WHILE UNDERSTANDING THE COMBINATION THAT WE COULD HAVE FOR INCREASED BORDER SECURITY AT THE SAME TIME. WHAT YOU HAVE GOING ON RIGHT NOW IN OUR COUNTRY, AS SENATOR DURBIN HAS POINTED OUT, IS FEAR WITH OVER 800,000 PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HERE, AS I SAID, THROUGH NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN. 97% OF THEM WORKING OR IN SCHOOL. YESTERDAY I MET WITH THE CATHOLIC CONFERENCE, PEOPLE FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MY STATE AND SOME OF THE DREAMERS AND HEARD AGAIN THE ACCOUNT OF SOMEONE IN SCHOOL, DOING WELL, WANTS TO WORK, WANTS TO STAY IN OUR STATE. WHEN I HEAR THESE STORIES, I'M ALWAYS REMINDED OF THE OLDEST DREAMER I HAVE EVER MET, JOSEPH MADINA WHO WAS BORN IN MEXICO, CAME OVER TO THIS COUNTRY, DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS BROUGHT OVER TO THE COUNTRY. HIS PARENTS HAD DIED AND HE GREW UP IN SLEEPY EYED, MINNESOTA, DECIDED TO SIGN UP FOR WORLD WAR II TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY AND FOUND OUT HE WAS UNDOCUMENTED. WHEN I MET HIM, AT AGE 99, HE SAID ALL YOU DID THE MILITARY TOOK YOU OVER TO CANADA FOR A MIGHT, YOU STAYED IN A HOTEL AND THEY MADE YOU A CITIZEN. HE SERVED UNDER GENERAL McKARTSDZER, CAME BACK TO THE UNITED STATES, HAD -- GOT MARRIED AND HAD A SON AND THAT SON SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR. I STOOD WITH HIS FAMILY AT THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL WHEN HE WAS 99 YEARS OLD, ALONG WITH TWO OTHER DREAMERS WHO WERE IN SUBURBAN HIGH SCHOOL WHO WANTED TO THE JOIN -- TO JOIN THE AIR FORCE BUT AT THE TIME WERE NOT ABLE TO. HE WANTED TO SERVE OUR COUNTRY JUST AS HE SERVED OUR COUNTRY. HE DIED AT AGE 103 THIS LAST YEAR. SO I'M DOING THIS FOR HIM AND THE 6,000 DREAMERS THAT LIVE IN MINNESOTA. AS WE KNOW, WE ARE SEEING THOSE LOSE THEIR DACA STATUS SINCE THE ADMINISTRATION'S DECISION AND THAT NOT ONLY WOULD THIS MEAN DEPORTATION IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THIS WOULD MEAN BASICALLY PEOPLE LED AWAY FROM THEIR JOBS, PEOPLE TEACHING SCHOOL, PEOPLE THAT ARE WORKING AT JOBS IN OUR HOSPITALS AND IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS AND SUDDENLY THEY WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO WORK. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN IN AMERICA AND I CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN IN OUR STATE. THAT IS WHY WE MUST CONTINUE THIS WORK AND WE MUST GET THIS DONE AND THE SOONER THE BETTER. THE DREAM ACT IS BASED ON A SIMPLE PRINCIPLE, DREAMERS WHO WERE BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES AS CHILDREN AND ONLY KNOW THIS COUNTRY AS THEIR HOME SHOULD BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR NATION AND BECOME CITIZENS. PASSING THE DREAM ACT ISN'T JUST THE MORALLY RIGHT THING TO DO, WHICH MANY, MANY AMERICANS, A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS AGREE WITH, BUT IT ALSO MAKES ECONOMIC SENSE. ONE RECENT STUDY ESTIMATES THAT ENDING DACA COULD COST THE COUNTRY OVER $400 BILLION OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS, IT WOULD COST MINNESOTA MORE THAN $376 MILLION IN ANNUAL REVENUE AND HAVE AN IMPACT ON FAMILIES WHO WOULD BE RIPPED APART. IN MY STATE IT IS IN THE 3% RANGE AND THIS POPULATION IS WORKING IN OUR STATE AND IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF OUR STATE'S EMPLOYMENT FORCE. JUST AS OUR LEGAL REFUGEES ARE. THAT IS WHY THIS RHETORIC AND SOME OF THE THINGS WE'RE HEARING ABOUT DREAMERS ISN'T GOOD, AND I TRULY APPRECIATE THOSE REPUBLICANS IN THE SENATE, INCLUDING THE PRESIDING OFFICER, WHO HAVE BEEN WILLING TO WORK WITH US ON THIS ISSUE AND TALK TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE AND TRY TO COME TOGETHER ON PASSING SOME VERSION OF THE DREAM ACT AND ALLOWING THESE DREAMERS TO STAY. WE WILL CONTINUE THIS FIGHT. WE STAND IN SUPPORT OF THE DREAM ACT AND WE STAND IN SUPPORT OF THOSE DREAMERS AND WE WORK EVERY SINGLE DAY TO FIND A SOLUTION. THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. I YIELD THE FLOOR.