Durbin: Protecting DREAMers is the right thing to do

Dec 6, 2016 2:00 PM

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today returned to floor of the U.S. Senate to share the story of Chicago lawyer Laura Alvarado, another young undocumented immigrant at risk of deportation if President-elect Donald Trump discontinues the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. He also called on his Senate colleagues to work in a bipartisan manner to keep DREAMers from being deported to countries where they haven’t lived since childhood.

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Last week, Durbin announced that he is working with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham to craft a potential legislative solution that would provide a temporary legal status to these young immigrants while Congress works on legislation to fix our broken immigration system.

“Now the choice is up to Congress. Are we going to step in and give Laura the chance that she asks for, to prove herself again as she has so many times in her young life? I’m glad to say that Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina, and I are joining in an effort to draw up legislation to achieve that goal and at least to give those eligible for DACA a temporary reprieve so if there is elimination of this executive action, we don't eliminate the protection that keeps them here in the United States, where they cannot be deported, and they have a chance to work. That’s something we need to do not just for Laura, but for 744,000 others as well, young people who grew up in this country and just deserve a chance to make this a better nation,” said Durbin.