Immigration: Senator Murray's Statement on Vote to Protect Dreamers

Press Release

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued a statement following a series of votes in the United State Senate on bipartisan legislation that would allow millions of DREAMers and other young people living in the country undocumented to remain in the United States and protect them from deportation. None of the votes in the Senate received the required 60 votes for passage.

"To the DREAMers and their families in Washington state and across the country who are disappointed with today's results, I want to be very clear: I am going to keep fighting for you, and I am not going to stop until we get this done.

"Because President Trump and Congressional Republicans have refused to work with us to pass the clean DREAM Act, which would allow the millions of people who are currently living in fear to stay in the country they call home and start down the path to citizenship, I am working with Democrats and Republicans to see what can actually pass through this Republican Congress and get signed into law to protect as many people as possible while doing as little harm as possible to our immigration system and our American values.

"To be clear, I have significant problems with pieces of these bipartisan proposals. While none of these compromise bills were ones I would have written on my own, I am hopeful that the strong votes they received have moved us closer to my goal of passing a bill that would protect DREAMers and their families and that can get signed into law. Specifically, I have serious concerns with Republican provisions that were included in the bipartisan bills including massive wasteful spending on the border, changes to the family-based Immigration system, sweeping enforcement priorities, the lack of protections for parents of DREAMers, and more--and I will be working to change these specific provisions as this process continues.

"President Trump and many Congressional Republicans have said time and again that they want protections for DREAMers and their families, and now the time for rhetoric is over--we need action. The onus is on President Trump and Republican leaders to fix a problem they created, to find solutions that unite rather than divide, and to deliver on their promise of real safety for all families, in every corner of the country. I am ready to keep working, but we can't do this in a Republican Congress without Republican partners working with us to get this over the finish line."

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