Sessions Delivers Floor Speech on ‘Decisive’ DREAM Act Vote
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered remarks today on the Senate floor prior to a cloture vote on the fifth version of the DREAM ACT recently introduced, following the postponement of two previously scheduled votes on the legislation. The DREAM Act would extend mass amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, including a number with criminal records, and would offer safe harbor to those with pending applications. Those granted amnesty would then be able to sponsor their relatives – including those who may have brought them here illegally – and do not need to attain a high school diploma, a college degree or volunteer for military service. According to CBO estimates, the bill would add at least $5 billion to the federal deficit.
His remarks, as prepared, follow:
“Essential to America’s greatness is our respect for the rule of law. The American people understand this.
For years, they have asked Congress and the President to secure the borders and to enforce our immigration laws. But for years, those pleas have been ignored. Leaders in Washington have not only tolerated the lawlessness, but their policies have encouraged it.
Americans living near our border are the ones who often pay the steepest price. Illegal drugs, guns, and people pour into states like Arizona every single day. Arizona’s capitol, Phoenix, has been turned into one of the kidnapping capitols of the world.
Ranchers living in the southern part of the state are forced to accept this chaos as part of their daily lives. Smugglers and traffickers routinely stream across their properties. Homes are broken into, livestock are killed, families are placed in danger. Our government has failed in its duty to protect these citizens and the peaceful possession of their property.
Consider the fate of Robert Krentz, the son of one of Arizona’s oldest ranching families, working land that had been in that family for a hundred years. In the past, the Krentz home had been robbed and their livestock slaughtered.
On the night of March 27th this year Mr. Krentz went out to mend a fence and check his water lines. He then reached his brother on the radio to say that he was helping someone he believed to be an illegal immigrant. That was the last time anyone would hear from Mr. Krentz. He was found several hours later, shot dead.
The death of Robert Krentz is sadly just one of many tragedies that could have been avoided if our government would do its job. Instead, when Arizona tried to support federal immigration authorities they were sued by Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice. They were sued for trying to protect themselves because the federal government would not.
And yet here we are, in the final days of a lame-duck Congress, considering a bill that would create a major impediment to effective immigration enforcement. The American people are pleading with Congress to enforce our laws, but this bill – at its core – would reward illegality.
This is the third time Majority Leader Reid has schedule a vote on the DREAM Act during the lame-duck session, and it is the fifth version of the legislation that has been introduced in the last two months. Not one of these bills has received committee review. In fact, the version that we are now considering was introduced in the House the night before it came to a vote. Only one hour of debate was allowed and no amendments could be offered. The Majority Leader has filled the tree here, so once again the legislation cannot be amended.
For two years Democrat leaders have ignored the public and rammed through unpopular legislation. And now they are at it again, trying to force through another unacceptable bill in the last days of a lame-duck congress.
Proponents of the DREAM Act insist it is a limited bill for the young children of illegal immigrants who graduate high school, get a college degree, and join the military. But the facts are otherwise.
The DREAM Act would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens regardless of whether they go to high school or finish college or serve in the military. And the bill is certainly not limited to children. It would apply to illegal immigrants who are as old as 30 now and—because the bill has no cap or sunset—who will remain eligible at any future age.
The bill’s amnesty provisions are so broad that they are open to those who have multiple criminal convictions – misdemeanors that could include drunk driving and even sexual offenses. But the bill goes yet further, offering safe harbor to illegal aliens with pending applications even if they pose a risk. This is especially dangerous because the safe harbor would also apply to those from terror-prone regions in the Middle East.
In fact, the DREAM Act altogether ignores the lessons of 9/11, going so far as to open eligibility to those who have previously defrauded immigration authorities—as did many of the 9/11 hijackers on their visa applications.
Some have suggested that this should not be a debate about policy but instead a debate about compassion. But good policy, faithfully followed, is compassionate. I would ask my friends who support this bill what is compassionate about ignoring the public’s wishes and forcing people to live with a lawless border. I would ask what is compassionate about putting illegal immigrants in the front of the line, ahead of those who have waited patiently and played by the rules. I would ask what is compassionate about undermining the integrity of our legal system – a system so central to our liberty and our prosperity.
Before we consider regular status for anyone living here illegally we must first secure the border. If we do not—if we pass this amnesty—we will signal to the world that we are not serious about our borders or our laws. We will say you can enter illegally and that a future Congress will have no reason not to grant another amnesty, another DREAM Act.
It is time to end the lawlessness. Not surrender to it. With determined leadership from Congress and the President we could solve the problem at our border in just a few short years.
This is a decisive vote. I urge my colleagues to oppose this reckless bill and to commit ourselves to creating an immigration system that is just and lawful and that befits a nation as great as ours.”
