PILSEN (WBBM Newsradio) -- Illinois' senior U.S. Senator is launching a new bid to put protections for children of undocumented immigrants into law.
"This has been the cause of my heart and my life," Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) told supporters and others during an appearance Friday morning at Dominican University, 1815 S. Paulina St., as he announced the re-introduction of the so-called "DREAM Act."
The "Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act" would provide a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
Durbin has tried repeatedly over his time on Capitol Hill to get legal status for so-called DREAMers written into law, and grew emotional as he remembered talking to advocates at a church on Capitol Hill after an earlier effort fell short.
"I said to those young people, 'I'm not giving up on you," Durbin recounted as he fought back tears. "'Don't give up on me."
The effort to revive the DREAM Act comes as the Trump Administration has stepped up immigration enforcement in Chicago and other cities. Dominican University president
Glena Temple said she just learned that an undocumented student at the school was deported on Thursday, a week after being detained by federal agents.
"This student, a DREAMer, has been an outstanding, involved, high-achieving member of our campus community," Temple said, "poised to enter the workforce and contribute meaningfully to our society."
She shared no other information about the student's case, citing privacy concerns.
Durbin said 80% of Americans believe that children of undocumented immigrants deserve a chance to stay in the U.S. "They understand that immigration justice for young people is the right thing to do."
He lauded his co-sponsor, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), calling her decision to join him in introducing the DREAM Act "an act of courage." And he acknowledged that even with public support, the road to passage remains uphill: "It is unlikely that we're going to have a majority to pass legislation unless we can convince many Republicans to come and join us."
But he insists as he prepares for the final year of his final term in the Senate that he's not giving up.
"It is still the right thing to do," said Durbin. "It is justice."