Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Immigration
Durbin Statement On Poland's Possible Entry Into Visa Waiver Program
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement today on the Department of State's announcement regarding Poland's entry into the Visa Waiver Program: For years I have battled in Congress for visa waivers for our Polish visitors. I know so many Polish Americans who simply want their family and friends from Poland to have easier access to visit America. Now I hope we are finally moving forward. I look forward to receiving more information about the State … Continue Reading
October 04, 2019
Congressional Leaders File Bipartisan Amicus Brief In Support Of DACA In The Supreme Court
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19) today led 49 Senators and former Senators and 123 U.S. Representatives and former Representatives in filing a bipartisan amicus brief in the Supreme Court in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on DACA on November 12, 2019. President Trump terminated the DACA program on September 5, 2017, throwing the lives of nearly 800,000 … Continue Reading
September 27, 2019
Durbin Statement On President Trump's Latest Assault On Refugees
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced it will aim to admit only 18,000 refugees to the U.S. in the coming year and issued an executive order purporting to allow state and local governments to block refugees from being resettled in their communities: "In the midst of the worst refugee crisis in history, the Trump Administration … Continue Reading
September 25, 2019
Durbin Discusses Immigrant Labor And Climate Change At Agriculture Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing, asked representatives of the poultry and livestock industry about the need and value of immigrant labor. Durbin made the case that mass deportations and dramatic cuts in legal immigration in America - as proposed by the Trump Administration - would devastate many livestock and poultry processing plants that depend on immigrant labor for operations. "When you go to meat … Continue Reading
September 25, 2019
Durbin Statement On Senate Vote To Reject 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, for the second time, to reject President Donald Trump's emergency declaration in order to fulfill his campaign promise of building a wall at the southern border: "For the second time in six months, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate chose the Constitution over the President's so-called 'national emergency' … Continue Reading
September 12, 2019
Durbin, Colleagues Introduce Temporary Protected Status For The Bahamas
WASHINGTON - Following reports that the Trump Administration will refuse to grant temporary protections to Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and 15 of his Senate Democratic colleagues in introducing the Bahamas Temporary Protected Status of 2019. The legislation designates The Bahamas for Temporary Protected Status for 18 months and provides humanitarian protection for eligible Bahamian citizens who are unable to return … Continue Reading
September 10, 2019
Durbin, Feinstein Call On Trump Administration To Consult Congress About Refugee Resettlement, As Required By Law
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today pressed the Trump Administration to immediately engage in meaningful consultations with Congress, as required by law, before setting the annual refugee admission ceiling for next year. Prior to any presidential determination on the number of refugees to be admitted in the upcoming … Continue Reading
September 05, 2019
Durbin Demands Answers On Elimination Of Medical Deferred Action
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), penned a letter to Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ken Cuccinelli, and Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matthew T. Albence demanding answers on USCIS's decision to end consideration of non-military deferred action requests, including medical … Continue Reading
August 29, 2019
Durbin, Colleagues Demand Trump Administration End Remain In Mexico Policy
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and 22 of his Democratic Senate colleagues in calling on the Trump Administration to stop restricting access to the U.S. asylum system by ending its Remain in Mexico policy. The deceptively named Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy blocks legal asylum seekers from being in the U.S. while they await court hearings in their cases, forcing them to wait in dangerous cities in Mexico for extended periods of … Continue Reading
August 28, 2019
Durbin, Klobuchar, Senators Press AG Barr To Rescind Decision To Limit Asylum Due To Family Ties
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and 10 of their Senate colleagues to call on Attorney General William Barr to rescind his decision in Matter of L-E-A-, which limits access to asylum for people fleeing persecution abroad because of their family ties. For more than 30 years, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and multiple federal circuit courts have acknowledged that a family group can be a "particular social group" as the … Continue Reading
August 14, 2019
Durbin Calls For Investigation Of Trump Admin's Efforts To Use Eminent Domain To Seize Privately Held Land To Build Border Wall
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), have sent a letter to U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro requesting that the U.S. Government Accountability Office investigate the Trump Administration's efforts to exercise the power of eminent domain to seize privately held land to build a border wall at the southern border of the United States. The Senators, who are all opposed to the president's border … Continue Reading
August 12, 2019
Illinois Congressional Democrats Urge Census Bureau To Ensure Full And Fair Count For 2020 Census
WASHINGTON - The Democratic members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation today sent a letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham urging him to ensure a full and fair count of the State of Illinois with the upcoming 2020 Decennial Census. The members expressed concern with administrative and technological changes being made to the upcoming Census, and urged the Bureau to provide Illinois with the necessary resources to count all Illinois residents, especially vulnerable and … Continue Reading
August 01, 2019
Durbin Statement On Rigged Markup Of Cruel Trump-Graham Proposal Targeting Vulnerable Children
WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today released the following statement after voting against the Trump-Graham asylum proposal in the Senate Judiciary Committee: "The Trump-Graham proposal includes no assurances that children will be humanely treated or that they will be safe from violence once they are deported. And this bill does nothing to address root causes that are causing migrants to flee the … Continue Reading
July 30, 2019
Senate Republicans Block Bipartisan, House-Passed Venezuela TPS Legislation
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans today blocked bipartisan, House-passed legislation that would designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and protect approximately 200,000 Venezuelan nationals in the United States from deportation. U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) was joined by U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on the Senate floor to make a unanimous consent (UC) request to immediately pass the Venezuela TPS … Continue Reading
July 26, 2019
Following Visit To Inspect & Investigate Southern Border Facilities, Durbin Joins Senate Dems In Demanding Trump Administration Immediately Address A Number Of Issues The Senators Witnessed
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senate Democrats in a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan outlining serious concerns regarding the conditions at the southern border that the Trump Administration's policies have exacerbated, and demanding the Administration immediately answer and remedy several issues that the Senators observed on their … Continue Reading
July 23, 2019
Durbin: President Trump Is Continuing His Hate-Filled, Anti-Immigrant Agenda
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today spoke out against the Trump Administration's new rule to quickly deport undocumented immigrants using a fast-track deportation process. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also argued that President Donald Trump's cruel and ineffective policies have made our southern border much less secure than when he took office. "Now today, as in almost every day, the … Continue Reading
July 19, 2019
Durbin Visits Southwest Border To View Migrant Detention Facilities
MCALLEN-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, was in McAllen, Texas, today with a group of Senate Democrats to get a firsthand look at the humanitarian crisis on the southwest border. Durbin toured McAllen Border Patrol Stations Donna and Ursula to evaluate the conditions at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention facilities and meet with immigrant families and children currently being held in detention. … Continue Reading
July 16, 2019
Durbin Slams New Trump Administration Rule On Asylum Seekers
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today argued that President Donald Trump's cruel and ineffective immigration policies have made our southern border much less secure than when he took office. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also called out the Trump Administration for the unprecedented cruelty they have shown to immigrants - especially families and children. "Now the Trump Administration has … Continue Reading
July 16, 2019
Durbin, Menendez Statement On President Trump's Refusal To Designate Venezuela For TPS
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today released the following statement after the Trump Administration, in a letter from controversial Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Ken Cuccinelli, stated that it will not designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). In March, Durbin and Menendez led a bipartisan group of 24 Senators in a … Continue Reading
July 12, 2019
Durbin, Duckworth Introduce Legislation To Stop Cruel Treatment Of Children At The Border
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and 31 Democratic Senators to introduce the Stop Cruelty to Migrant Children Act. This new legislation would put an end to the Trump Administration's cruel treatment of children at the U.S.-Mexico border and reform how children fleeing persecution are treated between the moment at which they arrive at our borders to claim asylum and the ultimate resolution … Continue Reading