MR. PRESIDENT, I RISE TO JOIN MY COLLEAGUES IN EXPRESSING MY SUPPORT FOR TAKING ACTION ON THE DREAM ACT. AS WELL AS MY CONTINUED OPPOSITION TO THE ADMINISTRATION'S DECISION TO END DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MY COLLEAGUE, SENATOR DURBIN, FOR ORGANIZING TODAY'S REMARKS AS WELL AS HER LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY ON BEHALF OF THE DREAMERS ALONG WITH SENATOR GRAHAM WHO IS LEADING ON THIS IMPORTANT BILL WITH SENATOR DURBIN. IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT THAT THE SENATE PASS THE DREAM ACT AND NOT WAIT ANY LONGER TO TAKE ACTION.

22,000 ELIGIBLE DACA RECIPIENTS DID NOT MEET THE ADMINISTRATION'S DEADLINE TO RENEW THEIR STATUS, AND AS A RESULT ABOUT 122 DREAMERS ARE NOW LOSING THEIR DACA STATUS EVERY DAY. THAT'S MORE THAN 11,000 WHO HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR STATUS AS OF TODAY, AND THAT NUMBER WILL CONTINUE TO INCREASE EVERY SINGLE DAY THAT WE FAIL TO ACT. SO THIS IS NOTHING THAT WE CAN WAIT AND WAIT A WEEK AND WAIT A MONTH AND WAIT TWO MONTHS. EVERY SINGLE DAY IT AFFECTS MORE PEOPLE. SO WHILE SOME HAVE SUGGESTED THAT WE WAIT UNTIL MARCH TO FIX THIS ISSUE, THE REALITY IS THAT THE SENATE NEEDS TO TAKE ACTION NOW. SINCE IT WAS FIRST ESTABLISHED IN 2012, DACA HAS HELPED NEARLY 800,000 YOUNG PEOPLE WHO HAVE LIVED IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE CHILDHOOD TO BETTER CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES, INCLUDING MORE THAN 6,000 IN MY STATE. I RECENTLY MET WITH THE ARCHBISHOP OF THE TWIN CITIES ALONG WITH SOME OF THESE DREAMERS, AND WE TALKED ABOUT HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS TO THE FABRIC OF LIFE IN OUR COMMUNITY, TO OUR ECONOMY IN MINNESOTA WHERE WE HAVE ONE OF THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATES IN THE COUNTRY, TO THE DREAMERS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES THEMSELVES.

THE DREAMERS WERE BROUGHT TO OUR COUNTRY AS CHILDREN, AND THEY ONLY KNOW ONE HOME. THAT IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE AVERAGE DREAMER HAS CALLED THIS COUNTRY HOME SINCE THEY WERE ABOUT SIX AND A HALF YEARS OLD. THAT'S THE AVERAGE. DREAMERS SERVE IN OUR MILITARY. THEY PAY TAXES, AND THEY CONTRIBUTE TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS OUR COUNTRY. MORE THAN 97% OF DREAMERS ARE NOW IN SCHOOL OR IN THE WORKFORCE. 97%. AND ALL DACA RECIPIENTS ARE REQUIRED TO MEET THE PROGRAM'S EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS. IN FACT, 72% OF ALL DACA RECIPIENTS CURRENTLY IN SCHOOL ARE PURSUING A BACHELOR DEGREE OR HIGHER. AND ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL COLLEGES, MORE THAN 100 STUDENTS WITH DACA STATUS APPLIED TO MEDICAL SCHOOL LAST YEAR, AND THAT IS ATTA TIME WHERE WE HAVE A SHORTAGE -- AT A TIME WHERE WE HAVE A SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS IN MY STATE PARTICULARLY IN THE RURAL AREAS.

THE ADMINISTRATION'S DECISION TO END DACA HAS CREATED TREMENDOUS UNCERTAINTY AND THE RISK OF DEPORTATION FOR THE DREAMERS STUDYING AND WORKING IN STATES ACROSS OUR NATION. IT SIMPLY DOESN'T MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE, MR. PRESIDENT. ONE RECENT STUDY ESTIMATED THAT ENDING THIS POLICY WOULD COST THE COUNTRY OVER $400 BILLION OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS. AND I LIKE TO POINT OUT TO MY COLLEAGUES, FOR IMMIGRANTS AS A WHOLE, 25% OF OUR U.S. NOBEL LAUREATES WERE BORN IN OTHER COUNTRIES. 70 OF OUR FORTUNE 500 COUNTRIES ARE HEADED UP BY IMMIGRANTS. WHY WOULD WE CUT OFF THIS TALENT FLOW? LOOK AT THESE DACA RECIPIENTS. 97% OF THE DREAMERS ARE WORKING OR IN SCHOOL. THAT'S WHY I STRONGLY DISAGREED WITH THE PRESIDENT'S DECISION TO END DACA AS DO MANY REPUBLICANS, DEMOCRATS, BUSINESS, LABOR AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS. AND IT'S WHY I SUPPORT THE BIPARTISAN DURBIN-GRAHAM DREAM ACT. AMERICA IS TRULY A COUNTRY BUILT BY IMMIGRANTS, BUT JUST AS IMPORTANTLY, THESE IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES HAVE HELPED AMERICA SUCCEED. THEY HAVE BEEN PART OF OUR NATION'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS.

I LOOK AT MY OWN FAMILY. ON MY DAD'S SIDE, MY GREAT-GRANDPARENTS CAME FROM SLOVENIA AND MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WORKED IN THE MINE AND MY GRANDPA WORKED IN THE MINE BECAUSE THEY NEEDED PEOPLE TO MINE IRON ORE TO MAKE ALL THE ARM AMOUNTS AND SHIPS TO WIN WORLD WAR. THEY WERE PROUD OF WHAT THEY DID TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR COUNTRY'S EFFORTS. ON MY MOM'S SIDE MY GRANDPARENTS WHO WERE SWISS CAME TO THIS COUNTRY. MY GRANDMA AS A THREE-YEAR-OLD TO WISCONSIN AND MY GRANDPA WHEN HE WAS 18 YEARS OLD CAME OVER. THERE WAS A LIMIT ON SWISS LIMITS, SOMEHOW GOT THROUGH CANADA AND GOT THROUGH TO WISCONSIN, MET MY GRANDMA, HAD MY MOM AND MY BROTHER, MY UNCLE DICK, AND AT SOME POINT DECIDED THAT HE WOULD TRY TO CHANGE HIS STATUS FROM ALIEN TO LEGAL IMMIGRANT, AND THAT WAS WHEN THE CONGRESS HAD JUST PASSED THE ALIEN REGISTRATION ACTS BECAUSE WORLD WAR II WAS BEFORE US. HE HAD TO REGISTER. THAT WENT SMOOTHLY SO HE DECIDED TO APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP. AND THAT'S WHEN THEY DISCOVERED THAT HE HAD ENTERED THE COUNTRY TWICE. ONCE WHEN HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO CANADA ON ELLIS ISLAND, BUT HE ONLY WENT TO CANADA FOR A WEEK. AND A SECOND TIME WHEN HE GOT THROUGH TO WISCONSIN. SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO MY GRANDPA NOW. BACK THEN HE WENT THROUGH THE IMMIGRATION HEARING. HE GOT HIS STATUS. THERE IS A PICTURE OF HIM, AN OLD BLACK AND WHITE WITH HIS BOW TIE SMILING, MUCH OLDER THAN WHEN HE HAD COME TO OUR COUNTRY WHERE HE BECAME A CITIZEN. BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED BECAUSE WHAT HE HAD DONE WASN'T REALLY LEGAL. AND BACK THEN THEY SAID YOU KNOW WHAT? WE WANT YOU IN OUR COUNTRY. YOU'RE A WORKER. YOU'VE RAISED TWO KIDS. YOU LIVE IN MILWAUKEE. WE WANT YOU TO BE A CITIZEN. AND THEY GAVE HIM THAT CITIZENSHIP JUST A FEW WEEKS BEFORE THE U.S. ENTERED WORLD WAR II. OTHERWISE I GUESS HE WOULD HAVE BEEN DEPORTED TO SWITZERLAND RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WAR.

THAT'S MY STORY. AND EVERYONE HAS AN IMMIGRANT STORY. THE SENATE-PASSED BILL WHEN WE DID COMPREHENSIVE REFORM, AND I WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE VERY INVOLVED IN THAT ON THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, IT INCLUDED A VERSION OF THE DREAM ACT WHICH WOULD HAVE CREATED A PATH TO CITIZENSHIP FOR THOSE ELIGIBLE FOR DACA WHO GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND WENT ON TO COMPLETE HIGHER EDUCATION OR TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY. AND WE MUST END THIS UNCERTAINTY FOR DREAMERS, AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE JOINED WITH SO MANY OF MY COLLEAGUES IN CALLING ON LEADERSHIP McCONNELL TO HOLD A VOTE. SO HERE'S A DREAMER THAT I'LL NEVER FORGET. I WAS TRYING TO FIND EXAMPLES FOR PEOPLE IN MY STATE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS DREAMER TERM WAS ALL ABOUT. AND I FOUND ONE A FEW YEARS AGO. JOSEPH MEDINA. AT THE TIME HE WAS 99 YEARS OLD, AND HE WAS A DECORATED ARMY VETERAN. WE WILL ONLY LOST HIM LAST MONTH AT AGE 103. SO HE TOLD ME HIS STORY BACK WHEN HE WAS 99. HE WAS BROUGHT TO OUR COUNTRY FROM MEXICO WHEN HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD. HE HAD NO IDEA THAT HE WASN'T BORN IN OUR COUNTRY, AND HE GREW UP IN SLEEPY EYE, MINNESOTA. THEN HE SIGNED UP TO SERVE IN WORLD WAR II. AND THAT WAS WHEN THEY FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS IN FACT UNDOCUMENTED AND HADN'T BEEN BORN IN OUR COUNTRY. AND BACK THEN AS HE DESCRIBED IT TO ME, THE MILITARY WANTED PEOPLE TO SERVE, SO THEY WOULD HAVE THEM GO TO CANADA. THE DIRECTION OF OUR MILITARY, HE WENT TO CANADA FOR ONE NIGHT, STAYED IN, HIS WORDS, A NICE HOTEL, AND THEN CAME BACK TO MINNESOTA, AND MAGIC, HE WAS LEGAL. HE THEN WENT AND SERVED UNDER GENERAL MACARTHUR IN THE PACIFIC, AND HE THEN CAME BACK TO THE UNITED STATES, MET HIS WIFE, GOT MARRIED, HAD KIDS, AND HIS SON SERVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR. SO I HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF HOSTING HIM AT THE WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL THAT HE HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE, WITH HIS SON WHO IS A VIETNAM VET, SO HE COULD SEE THAT MEMORIAL FOR THE FIRST AND THE LAST TIME. AND WITH US WERE TWO DREAMERS FROM SUBURBAN TWIN CITIES AREA HIGH SCHOOLS WHO WANTED TO SERVE IN THE AIR FORCE BUT COULDN'T BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE SAME RULES WE HAD DURING WORLD WAR II. AND THEY WERE BASICALLY, BECAUSE OF THEIR STATUS, COULDN'T SERVE. WELL, WE LOST JOSEPH MEDINA, SUCH AN ADVOCATE THAT HE WAS NOT ONLY IN WORDS BUT IN EXAMPLE, JUST LAST MONTH. AND YOU THINK OF HIS SERVICE, AND YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE HIM STANDING IN FRONT OF THAT MEMORIAL WITH THOSE TWO DREAMERS THAT WEREN'T ALLOWED TO SERVE THEMSELVES, IT REALLY HIT HOME TO ME AND TO EVERYONE THAT HEARD HIS STORY, WHAT THESE DREAMERS WERE ALL ABOUT. SO WE ALL HAVE OUR STORIES. AND WE OWE IT TO THESE DREAMERS AND WE OWE IT TO OUR COUNTRY AND THE VALUES OF OUR COUNTRY TO STAND UP FOR THESE DREAMERS. SO I STAND WITH MY COLLEAGUES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE WHO HAVE SPOKEN OUT IN SUPPORT OF DREAM ACT AND WHO AGREE THAT WE MUST TAKE ACTION IN THE SENATE TO PROTECT THESE DREAMERS IN THE NAME OF JOSEPH MEDINA, IN THE NAME OF ALL OF OUR RELATIVES WHO ALWAYS CAME FROM SOMEWHERE, LET'S GET THIS DONE. THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT. I YIELD THE FLOOR. AND I NOTE THE ABSENCE OF A QUORUM.