Reed: Trump Broke Protections for Dreamers, Time for U.S. Senate to Fix It

WASHINGTON, DC – Five months after the Trump Administration created an economic and
humanitarian crisis by terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
program, the Senate Majority Leader is finally letting the Senate move forward with
an immigration debate this week.

U.S. Senator Jack Reed is urging his Senate colleagues to come together and pass the
bipartisan DREAM Act, which would allow young immigrants who have worked, studied,
and served in the Armed Forces to earn lawful permanent residence and provide them
with a path to American citizenship. These young people, known as Dreamers, were
brought here through no fault of their own, have lived in America since they were
children, built their lives here, and are American in every way except for their
immigration status.

«It is time for Congress to do what is best for our country and pass the DREAM Act.
I’m not asking Republicans to act out of the goodness of their hearts, I am asking
them to act in their own economic self-interest and that means harnessing the power
of young immigrants to help grow our economy. When President Trump terminated the
DACA program, he not only jeopardized the future of hardworking Dreamers who are
excelling in school, the workplace, and their communities, but he also created
economic uncertainty for employers and municipalities all across the nation as
well,» stated Reed, who cited a 2016 Center for American Progress study, which
estimates that permanently ending DACA would reduce the nation’s GDP by $433.4
billion over a decade.

Reed noted he has met with several very impressive Dreamers living in Rhode Island,
including one young woman studying at Brown University who needs DACA to ensure she
can stay here to attend medical school and help fill the shortage of doctors in
America.

«I urge my colleagues who don’t know any Dreamers firsthand to listen to the people
they represent: Americans overwhelmingly support finding a solution for Dreamers
that protects them from deportation and provides a pathway to citizenship for those
who work hard and play by the rules. I believe that a bipartisan majority of my
colleagues want the same thing. The question before us is whether the partisanship
and raw feelings surrounding this debate will prevent a solution to this crisis from
becoming law. So I urge my colleagues: let us forge the bipartisan agreement that
the American people want and the Dreamers deserve, let us end this crisis. Then,
after this bipartisan show of good faith, let us again take up the kind of
comprehensive immigration reform that many of us in this body have already voted to
pass so we can fix our broken immigration system once and for all,» continued Reed.

In order to pass the U.S. Senate, a fix to the DACA crisis created by President
Trump will require 60 votes. This means that if all 49 Democratic and Independent
Senators support immigration reform, it still needs at least 11 Republican Senators
to help advance the bill. Reed noted that Democrats have made compromises to pair
the DREAM Act, which would extend protections for immigrants brought to the U.S.
when they were children, with smart targeted investments in border security and
other reasonable compromises that reflect Democrats’ and Republicans’ shared
interest in securing our nation’s borders.

Reed stated that he does not believe that solving the DACA crisis, which President
Trump created, should come at the cost of radically restructuring legal immigration.
According to the conservative Cato Institute, President Trump’s immigration
proposals would cut legal immigration by about half, slashing our projected economic
growth rate by 12.5%, and lowering future economic growth projections due to the
reduction in the size of the American workforce. And, just as our nation faces a
skyrocketing deficit due to unsound policies like the Republican tax plan, the
National Academy of Sciences estimates that immigrants on average contribute over
$92,000 more than they receive in government benefits over the course of their
lives, and losing these American workers would only further shrink revenue that
could help balance the budget.

«Both sides of the aisle agree that border security is of critical importance to our
nation. I have voted to increase the already tough vetting of visa applicants,
heighten security on international travel, and to increase support for homeland
security and border control by billions and billions of dollars. In Fiscal Year
2000, there were 8,619 Border Patrol agents on the southwest border; today there are
currently just shy of 20,000. The Obama Administration alone added more than 3,000
Border Patrol agents on our southern border, doubled the amount of fencing, and
added technological systems including aerial and ground surveillance systems,» Reed
noted.

As a result, unlawful immigration began lessening under President Obama and, today,
fewer people are entering the country illegally across the U.S-Mexico border than in
the past fifty years.

«I believe in a strong border that continues to adapt the best technologies and
tactics to keep our nation safe,» concluded Reed. «I, along with many of my
colleagues, have taken the tough votes to strengthen our border and ensure
immigrants play by the rules. I have voted for the DREAM Act, and for comprehensive
immigration reform that passed in this body twice. I know that we can address this
crisis if we choose to, but I also know that the only true path forward is real
bipartisan compromise, not posturing or legislative gamesmanship. I urge my
colleagues to support compromise legislation to address the specific crisis before
us, and, when we have done that, to begin earnest discussions on bipartisan and
comprehensive immigration reform.»

The Senate is scheduled to debate immigration legislation all this week.