Americans who preceded us, with the exception of many African Americans who were brought here in bondage, virtually all of the rest of us are the sons and daughters of immigrants to america, immigrants from literally all over the world, who have come to this nation and made us different, different in a positive way. They have given life to this democracy. They have given hope when it comes to our future. They have inspired us. Ill be the first to admit that i do not come to this debate without strong personal feelings. Like millions of americans, i am the son of an immigrant. In 1911, 107 years ago, my grandmother came to this country with three little kids. One of those kids was my mother. She was two years old when they landed, their ship landed in baltimore. My grandmother didnt speak a word of english, but somehow she managed to take those three kids and make her way to join my grandfather in east st. Louis, illinois. On the credenza behind my desk here in the capitol is my mothers naturalization certificate. I keep that as a reminder of my heritage. Thats my story. Thats my familys story. Thats americas story. Because of my family history, i really believe in immigration. I believe it has been a positive force in america. I remember going back to the tiny village then 1911, then a tiny village in lithuania. And being taken on a tour of my moms birthplace. She never made it back there, but i was able to see it, the church where she was baptized. They pointed out the well in the town square which people used. And i thought to myself what it must have been like that evening when my grandparents called their friends and relatives together to tell them the news. They were leaving their home in lithuania. They were leaving the church that had served their family for generations. They were leaving all of their friends and relatives. They were leaving behind every stick of furniture, the dogs, the cats, the chickens, everything, to go to a place where they didnt speak the language. They were going to this place called america. They heard Great Stories about the land of opportunity and they heard about some lithuanians who had gone to the city of east st. Louis, illinois, and thats where they were headed. Im sure that those friends and relatives walking away from that meeting turned to one another and said whatever got into their mind. Theyre giving up everything to go to a place where they dont even speak the language. Theyll be back. Well, they never returned. And like millions and millions of americans, they had the courage to come to america and to weather crisis after crisis in our family and to build a future. I stand here because of that decision. How can you tell when a country is in decline . When immigrants stop wanting to come to that country, when they cant wait to leave that country. Many other developed countries have had this experience and watched their economies decline as a result. That has never been our experience in the history of america. Look at our history. In every generation immigrants have come to our shores from around the world and made us a better and stronger nation. Immigrants are not a drain on america. Immigrants are the future of america. They are hardworking men and women who leave behind everything they know to build a new and better life for themselves and their children here. They breathe new life into our country. They revitalize the american dream. Youve heard the stories. They go to Silicon Valley and take a look at some of the best and brightest when it comes to high tech, and they marvel at the fact of how many of them were immigrants to this country who were finally able to take that great idea and turn it into a great business with a lot of employees well paid, helping this country move forward. It was 17 years ago that i introduced a bill called the dream act. It was Bipartisan Legislation that gave a path to citizenship to immigrants who came to the United States as children. These young people have come to be known as dreamers. Now i know the president went to a republican retreat last week and mocked the term dreamers. He did the same in his state of the union address. But i will tell you, im proud of the term dreamers. Before this bill was introduced, if you asked about dreamers and who they were, most people would answer, isnt that a British Rock Group . Well, now today dreamers symbolize something in america, young people brought here who have grown up pledging allegiance to that flag, singing the only National Anthem they ever have known, who want to be part of our future. Those are dreamers. I sent a letter eight years ago to president obama. Dick lugar, republican senator from indiana, joined me in signing that letter. We asked on a bipartisan basis for president obama to find a way to protect the dreamers. The president rep spopbded to our responded to our request. He established the deferred action for childhood arrivals, better known as daca. Daca provides temporary legal status to dreamers if they step up, identify themselves, register with the government, pay a 500 filing fee, and submit themselves to a criminal background check, then a National Security background check. And if they pass all of those things, under daca they were given temporary renewable twoyear protection to stay in the United States, not be deported, and have the legal right to work. Daca has been an extraordinary success. Almost 800,000 dreamers have come forward and saoefrd received daca protection. Its allowed them to contribute more to this country that they love as teachers and nurses and engineers and First Responders and members of our military. Yes, these daca individuals have stepped up, even though they do not have the legal rights of citizenship, raise their hand and sworn to put their life on the line for america. How many of us have done that . We should admire them for their commitment to this country. But instead on september 5, attorney general Jeff Sessions announced the Trump Administration was putting an end to this daca program. That same day the president called on congress to, quote, legalize daca, close quote. Now the deportation clock is literally ticking on these young people. As we gather here today, more than 18,000 of these young people have lost their protection under daca. And beginning in less than a month, on march 5 of this year, every day for the next two years 1,000 dreamers will lose their work permits and be subject to deportation because of President Trumps decision. The administration itself has warned us that if we do come up with a legalization of daca, they need time, maybe as long as six months, to make it work. So what has Congress Done in response to this challenge, in response to the fact that thousands of young people are losing this protection . The answer is one word nothing. Nothing. Not a single bill has passed the senate or the house in response to the president s challenge, despite the fact that 122 of these dreamers every single day, because of President Trumps decision, lose the protection of daca. Teachers, almost 20,000 of them nationwide who are Daca Recipients, are going to be in a situation where they have to leave behind their classrooms and their students. Nurses forced to leave behind their patients because of President Trumps decision. First responders who have written an enviable record of courage in serving their communities will be forced to leave those posts. Soldiers willing to die for america forced to leave the army. Forced to leave the army they have volunteered to serve. This isnt just a looming humanitarian crisis. Its an economic crisis as well. More than 91 of Daca Dreamers are gainfully employed and paying taxes to our government. The nonpartisan institute on taxation and Economic Policy reports that dacaeligible individuals contribute an estimated 2 billion a year in state and local taxes. And the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, estimates that ending daca and deporting Daca Recipients will cost 60 billion and result in a 280 billion reduction in Economic Growth over the next decade. Are the daca protectees a drain on society . Not according to this conservative Cato Institute. They are a plus for america, a plus for our economy. Poll after poll shows that overwhelming theres overwhelming bipartisan support for the dreamers. Even fox news, no liberal media outlet, found that 79 of americans support a path to citizenship for dreamers. That includes 63 of those who identify as trump voters. When the Trump Administration shut down the daca program, the president called on congress to legalize the program. We have done nothing. The day after repealing daca, President Trump reached a tentative agreement on daca and Border Security with senator schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and nancy pelosi, the House Democratic leader. President trump said, and i quote, chuck and nancy would like to see something happen, and so do i. Close quote, said the president. But very quickly President Trump walked away from those words. In october the white house released seven pages of what they call immigration principles. Their wish list when it came to immigration. It was a list of hardline, antiimmigrant proposals. Many of which have been opposed by both Political Parties in congress. Then four weeks ago i was invited to a meeting on january 9 at the white house to sit next to President Trump and about two dozen members of congress. The president said at that meeting, broadcast on live television, he wanted to protect Daca Recipients. And he would sign any bipartisan bill that congress sent to him. The president said send me a bill, and i will sign it and ill take the political heat. I heard it. So did america. He also said that congress should first pass daca legislation and that other immigration issues should wait for, quote, phase 2, which would be comprehensive, close quote. Good news for me. Good news for senator Lindsey Graham, republican from south carolina. We had been working for four months on a bipartisan plan. We came back to the hill after that meeting on january 9. That evening and the next day we hammered out an agreement. Six senators three democrats and three republicans and we called the president on january 11. I personally called him to tell him we had a bill, a bipartisan bill. I wanted him to hear about it, to know the details, and i hoped that it would solve the problem and challenge that we faced. It was a real compromise. The day after we finalized that agreement after the house meeting, we addressed all the priorities that the president had laid before us. Including protection for the dreamers and a significant multibilliondollar down payment on our Border Security. The president said he looked forward to senator graham briefing him on that plan and would be back in touch with me. Then i received word within minutes the president wanted me to join senator graham coming to the white house. Two hours later, senator Lindsey Graham and i were at the white house hoping that the president might embrace our bipartisan plan, but we are surprised and disappointed when we entered the oval office. In a matter of an hour and a half, five of the congressional hardliners on immigration had been invited in to shoot down our plan. The president s views in a matter of less than two hours had changed radically. During our meeting, the president demanded 20 billion to build a wall on our southern border. He kept saying over and over, give me 20 billion, ill build this wall in one year. The president reacted negatively to the agreement that we had reached. In terms of protecting immigrants from haiti from deportation and ensuring that immigrants from africa would be permitted to come to our country. What i heard at that meeting had nothing to do with security and the american jobs. It was a sad commentary by the president on his vision of immigration. Then two weeks ago senator schumer, our democratic leader, made another goodfaith attempt to work at the white house. He made a generous offer to President Trump to fund the border wall. But after a promising meeting, within two hours the president called and withdrew any offer. That was the third time Senate Democrats had offered to fund President Trumps wall in exchange for the dream act. In other words, weve been willing to support a broadly unpopular and partisan proposal, the wall, in exchange for a broadly popular and bipartisan proposal, the dream act. But the president will not take yes for an answer. Its no wonder that senator schumer has said that trying to reach an immigration agreement with the president is, quote, like trying to negotiate with jello. Two weeks ago the white house released a onepage framework on Immigration Reform and Border Security. The white house claims this is a compromise because it includes a path to citizenship for some dreamers. I might add an issue that is supported by the overwhelming majority of american people. But the plan would put the administrations entire hardline immigration agenda on the backs of these young people. For example, the white house wants to dramatically reduce Legal Immigration, Legal Immigration by prohibiting american citizens from sponsoring their parents, siblings, and adult or married children as immigrants. Were talking about literally millions of relatives of american citizens whove done the right thing, followed our ilgraition laws, Immigration Laws, and have been waiting patiently in line as much as 20 years to come to the United States. Listen to what the Cato Institute says about the proposal. I quote. In the most likely scenario, the new plan would cut the number of legal immigrants by up to 44 or half a Million Immigrants annually. The largest policydriven, Legal Immigration cut since the 1920s. Compared to current law, it would exclude the president the president s proposal would exclude nearly 22 Million People from the opportunity to immigrate legally to the United States over the next 50 years. This proposal would gut the 1965 immigration and nationality act which established our current immigration system with its focus on reuniting families. When you think about the bedrock principles of america, faith, family, love of country, why would we assault this effort to unify and strengthen our families in america, those who are following this process in a legal manner . The 1965 law which this would change dramatically replaced the Strict National origin quotas of the 1924 Immigration Law. The 1924 Immigration Law was written to specifically exclude people whom the congress and president in those days thought should not be part of americas future. They were focusing on people from my part of the world. My family came from the baltics. They focused on the baltics and Eastern European countries to restrict their immigration to this country. Lucky for me my family got over before the 1924 law. They also wanted to exclude italians in the belief that we had enough from that country and they wanted to exclude jews. Thats what that 1924 National Security act was about. When president Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 law he said and i quote, it corrects a cruel and enduring wrong. For over four decades, the immigration policy of the United States has been twisted and distorted by the harsh injustice of the National Origins quota system. End of quote. Listen to what president Calvin Coolidge said when he signed the 1924 law, the last major reduction in Legal Immigration in america. Listen to what he said. There are racial considerations too grave to be brushed aside, president coolidge said. Biological law tell us that certain people will not mix or blend. The nordics promulgate themselves successfully. With other races the outcome shows deterioration on both sides. I cant understand why attorney general sessions at one point praised that 1924 law and said it was, quote, good for america, close quote. The president S Immigration framework also would fasttrack deportation of women and children who come to our border fleeing gang and sexual violence. Since our tragic failure during world war ii to aid jewish refugees fleeing the holocaust, the United States has led the world since then in providing safe haven to people fleeing war and terrorism and persecution. Now were in the midst of the worst refugee crisis on record. 65