Sen. Durbin: Time running out for Senate to pass “dreamer” legislation

Sen. Dick Durbin,D-Ill., the founder of the DREAMer movement, and other Democratic senators on Wednesday push for GOP support in the Senate during the lame-duck session to approve protections for Dreamers — youths brought to the U.S. illegally through no fault of their own. (Screen shot)

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the founder of the “Dreamer” movement, explained the “grim reality” of this moment on Wednesday — the urgency of finding in this lame-duck session 10 GOP senators to support permanent protections for youths brought to the U.S. illegally — before Republicans take control of the House next year.

Durbin has been working on legalizing the status of “dreamers” since 2001. This class of immigrants — youths in legal limbo through no fault of their own, many adults by now — got their name from a bill Durbin first co-sponsored with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the “Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors” Act.