Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Immigration
Durbin Questions Defense Secretary On DOD Involvement At The Southwest Border
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today questioned Patrick Shanahan, Acting Secretary of Defense, and General Joseph Dunford, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the continued use of Department of Defense (DoD) funding and personnel at our southern border. In today's hearing, Durbin pressed Acting Secretary Shanahan on why there is no money appropriated in the fiscal year 2020 budget when … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Durbin: If President Trump Truly Cares About Venezuela, He Should Grant TPS Status To Venezuelans In The U.S.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today once again called on President Donald Trump to promptly designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to ensure that Venezuelan nationals currently present in the United States are not forced to return to Venezuela at this dangerous time. In a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could not tell Durbin whether or not the Trump Administration would offer TPS to … Continue Reading
April 10, 2019
Durbin: President Trump's Demand For Troops At The Southwest Border Is Hurting Military Readiness
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today questioned General Joseph L. Lengyel, Chief of The National Guard Bureau, on how the National Guard's deployment to the Southwest border is impacting military readiness. In today's hearing, Durbin noted that the National Guard's current deployment to the Southwest border is estimated to cost $247 million and that President Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget includes … Continue Reading
April 03, 2019
Durbin, Harris, Cortez Masto Introduce Bill To Lift Ban On Dreamers Working For Congress
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced the American Dream Employment Act, legislation to rescind the current prohibition on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients working or participating in paid internships in Congress. "Since I first introduced the Dream Act in 2001, I have met hundreds of Dreamers who are giving back to their communities as teachers, nurses, engineers, and soldiers. Many of … Continue Reading
March 27, 2019
Durbin Continues Fight For The Passage Of The Dream Act
WASHINGTON - Following yesterday's introduction of the bipartisan Dream Act of 2019, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today came to the Senate floor to call on Republican leaders in the Senate to pass this important legislation. Introduced with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the bipartisan Dream Act would allow immigrant students who were brought here as children and grew up in the United States to earn lawful permanent residence and eventually … Continue Reading
March 27, 2019
Durbin: President Trump Is Building His Wall At The Expense Of The Military
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today questioned Mark Esper, Secretary of the U.S. Army, and General Mark Milley, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, about President Trump's Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 budget request. In today's hearing, Durbin pressed the Defense Department about President Donald Trump's efforts to divert defense funds to the border wall so that he can fulfill a campaign promise. On Monday, … Continue Reading
March 26, 2019
Senators Press Defense Department For Answers Following Transfer of $1 Billion In Military Personnel Funding To Pay For President Trump's Wall
WASHINGTON - Following notification from the Department of Defense that it transferred $1 billion in military personnel funding to the Drug Interdiction and Counter-narcotics Activities account to be used to build part of President Donald Trump's wall on the Southwest border, even though it was not approved by Congress, every Democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related … Continue Reading
March 21, 2019
Durbin On Marine Corps Memo: President Trump Is Endangering Our Troops To Build His Wall
PEORIA - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the Los Angeles Times published a memo from the Marine Corps regarding the danger being created by diverting excess Department of Defense funding to President Trump's border wall rather than Marine Corps priorities, such as repairs at Camp Lejeune and training. Last week, the Senate voted to reject President Trump's emergency … Continue Reading
March 18, 2019
Durbin Statement On President Trump's Veto Of Congress' Emergency Declaration Rebuke
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today released the following statement after President Donald Trump vetoed the resolution of termination regarding his national emergency declaration to build a wall at the southern border. Yesterday, the Senate voted to reject President Trump's emergency declaration by a bipartisan vote of 59-41. "Yesterday, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate chose the Constitution over … Continue Reading
March 15, 2019
Durbin Statement On Senate's Bipartisan Rejection Of President Trump's Emergency Declaration
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the Senate voted to reject President Donald Trump's emergency declaration in order to fulfill his campaign promise of building a wall at the southern border: "Today, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate chose the Constitution over the President's so-called 'national emergency' declaration. The Senate must continue to reject any … Continue Reading
March 12, 2019
Durbin, Leahy, Schatz, Senators Demand Answers From DOD On Its Plans To Defund Military Projects To Pay For President Trump's Wall
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ranking Member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, today led a group of Democratic appropriators calling on the Department of Defense to provide Congress with a list of military projects it intends to defund to pay for President … Continue Reading
March 12, 2019
Durbin: President Trump's Budget Request Asks Congress To Choose - Border Wall Or Medical Research
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after President Donald Trump submitted his fiscal year 2020 budget request to Congress: "After a disastrous 35 day government shutdown, and with the Senate slated to reject his national emergency declaration this week, the fact that President Trump would request $8.6 billion for his beloved border wall - while cutting $5 billion in medical research … Continue Reading
March 11, 2019
Durbin, Leahy, Schatz, Ask Gao For Legal Opinion On President Trump's Transfer Of DOD Funds To Build A Wall
WASHINGTON-As the Senate prepares to vote on President Trump's national emergency declaration this week, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs today asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) for a legal opinion on the … Continue Reading
March 06, 2019
Durbin Questions CBP Commissioner On Trump Administration's Failing Border Security Policies
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, today questioned U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan on the Trump Administration's failing border security policies. In today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Durbin pressed Commissioner McAleenan on the Trump Administration's unilateral - and in some cases illegal - measures that are destabilizing Central America and driving more … Continue Reading
March 06, 2019
Durbin: Senate Must Reject President Trump's Emergency Declaration
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today urged his Senate colleagues to reject President Donald Trump's legally dubious emergency declaration in order to fulfill his campaign promise of building a wall at the southern border. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin explained how President Trump is taking money from military readiness-construction projects, training, equipment that our military needs-in order … Continue Reading
March 06, 2019
Durbin Submits Testimony To House Judiciary Committee Hearings On Dreamers & TPS Recipients
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), the longtime lead sponsor of the Dream Act and Ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, today submitted testimony to the House Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting Dreamers and TPS recipients. Nineteen years ago, Durbin introduced the original Dream Act to give young immigrants who grew up in this country a path to citizenship. In April 2010, he became the first member of Congress to call for the … Continue Reading
February 28, 2019
Durbin Presses Agriculture Secretary Perdue On Food Stamps, Trade, Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in the first Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing of the 116th Congress, pressed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue about access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the elderly and those with disabilities, how President Trump's trade war with China is hurting the price of soybeans in Illinois, and whether he would support comprehensive immigration reform for more than … Continue Reading
February 15, 2019
Durbin Statement On President Trump's Emergency Declaration
WASHINGTON-Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today released the following statement after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in order to circumvent Congress and access funds to build a wall on the southern border: President Trump's national emergency declaration serves one purpose and one purpose only: to fulfill his campaign promise to build a big, beautiful wall. While the President claims he … Continue Reading
February 14, 2019
Durbin Statement On Bipartisan Agreement To Fund The Government
WASHINGTON-Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the bipartisan, bicameral conference committee on Homeland Security, today released the following statement after voting for the bipartisan agreement negotiators reached to fund the nine remaining federal departments and their agencies. The bipartisan package rejects President Trump's demand for $5.7 billion for a border wall and makes responsible investments in border security long supported by Democrats. For 35 days, we said … Continue Reading
February 08, 2019
Durbin Named Top Democrat On Senate Immigration Subcommittee
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after being re-appointed as the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee: More than 20 years ago, when I first came to the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy called to ask me, the son of an immigrant, to serve on the Immigration Subcommittee. I have never felt a greater need to ensure that our immigration laws are worthy of our heritage as a nation of immigrants than I have these past two years. … Continue Reading