Ahead Of America’s 250th Anniversary, Durbin Delivers Statement On The Contributions Of Immigrants During Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing

Ahead Of America's 250th Anniversary, Durbin Delivers Statement On The Contributions Of Immigrants During Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing

Durbin: "With each generation, we have extended the promise of the founding to new Americans-immigrants who form the fabric of our nation and have made it what it is today."

WASHINGTON - Ahead of America's 250^th anniversary, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement on the importance of recognizing our nation's progress during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing. During his opening, Durbin reflected on the history of America-including the values our Founding Fathers envisioned and the many contributions from immigrants in the last 250 years.

Key Quotes:

"We must also reckon honestly with the Founders' failures. The men who signed the Declaration enslaved people. They proclaimed liberty while denying it to millions. Slavery was the nation's original sin. So, at the time, not all men were treated equally-let alone all people. Acknowledging that truth isn't an attack on America-it's the beginning of understanding who we are."

"With each generation, we have extended the promise of the founding to new Americans-immigrants who form the fabric of our nation and have made it what it is today. That progress is the true measure of America's goodness."

"In my office today is my mother's naturalization certificate, a reminder to me and everyone who visits that I am the proud son of an immigrant. I am not embarrassed by my immigrant ancestry. I am proud of it. The amazing things that those people achieved and made a better life for me and for this country."

"Efforts to overturn that progress are deeply troubling to me. Efforts to turn our back on our history as a nation of immigrants. To erode the civil rights protections that generations of Americans sacrificed to secure."

"To reinterpret the Fourteenth Amendment-ratified to ensure that no one born on this soil could ever be defined as less than fully American. We did not come this far to go back. Nor did we come this far to diminish our collective progress by elevating and cheering on pettiness, cruelty, and corruption."

"Unfortunately, President Trump's contribution to this anniversary has been to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool 'American flag blue'-through a no-bid contract to a clearly unqualified firm. We know what happened next. The cost ballooned from $1.8 million to more than $15 million… And he has turned the Department of Justice into both a shield that dismisses cases against his allies and those who violently attacked this Capitol, and a sword that targets his political opponents. That is not the rule of law. That is weaponization. That is corruption not behind closed doors. And it is precisely what the Founders feared when they built this republic."

"So, as we gather today to mark 250 years of American democracy, let's be honest about who we were and where we are. We have made extraordinary progress… The Founders gave us a republic. The question on this anniversary is whether we have the wisdom and the courage to keep it. I hope today's hearing rises to that challenge."

Video of Durbin's questions are available here.

Audio of Durbin's questions are available here.

Footage of Durbin's questions are available here for TV Stations.

-30-