Supporters gather for a rally to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a longtime advocate for creating legal status for immigrants brought to the country as children who are retiring next year, reintroduced his signature immigration bill for the final time Thursday.
Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, first introduced the measure, now known as the Dream Act, in 2001 with Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah and has reintroduced it in every Congress since. Congress did not pass the bill.
Durbin, 81, spoke about his legacy on immigration at a news conference Thursday.
“We are a nation of immigrants. I am proud to be the son of an immigrant,” said the No. 2 Senate Democrat. “This is the proud son of an immigrant doing everything he can to help the next generation of immigrants be part of America’s future. The fight has just begun.”
While Congress is unlikely to approve the measure again this year, junior Senate Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Alex Padilla of California said Thursday they would continue the effort.
“The dream is still alive,” Padilla said. “We are as determined as ever to get it over the finish line.”
Cortez Masto agreed.
“One day, with everyone’s hard work, we will be able to reach the finish line,” she said.
Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski co-sponsored the latest version of the bill.
Temporary solution, now 13 years ancient
The Dream Act would provide a path to citizenship for immigrant children who came to the country with their parents without legal authorization.
The bill nicknamed more than 530,000 immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program “Dreamers.” The Obama administration created the program in 2012 as a transient measure to allow recipients to obtain work permits and driver’s licenses while Congress created a path to citizenship.
The legality of DACA is bound in courtwhich leaves its recipients in limbo.
For now, existing DACA recipients can continue to renew, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in January upheld deportation protections for recipients but found the work permit portion unlawful. The appeals court constrained its decision to Texas, which led the lawsuit, meaning DACA remains in full force in all states and U.S. territories except Texas.
Many immigration policy experts consider DACA obsolete because there are now thousands of undocumented youth who are ineligible for the program because they were not even born in 2007, the year a recipient must have begun residency in the United States.
A federal judge blocked the acceptance of up-to-date applicants in 2021.
The action against Trump increases the urgency
Many DACA recipients were caught up in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Dozens of recipients were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite their legal status, according to immigrant advocacy groups tracking the issue.
“This moment in our nation’s history is a terrible and challenging moment for so many people, not just the Dreamers but for immigrants in general,” Durbin said.
“I was both angry and heartbroken when I saw masked federal agents in their combat uniforms parading through the city of Chicago with automatic weapons,” he continued. “I saw them wreaking havoc in these communities and sowing fear among people who were afraid to even go outside, go to church or go shopping.”
Executive director of the immigrant advocacy group United We Dream, Greisa Martinez Rosas, said that while DACA has allowed some immigrant youth to obtain work permits and deportation protections, more needs to be done, especially under a second Trump administration.
“We are currently facing unprecedented attacks that pose the greatest threat to the future of the DACA program and, by extension, the future of this country and the millions of people who would make our country stronger every day,” she said.
Immigration reform elusive
Durbin said the Dream Act is an “important step toward real, positive, bipartisan change” in immigration policy.
The last time Congress came close to bipartisan immigration reform was in 2013.
This year, the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” senators, including Durbin, crafted a bill to create a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people who had lived in the country for years.
The Senate passed the measure, but then-House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, never brought the bill to a vote.
