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Nelson urges passage of Dream Act

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) took to the Senate floor this evening to speak in support of the Dream Act and the thousands of Dreamers who currently live in Florida.
Nelson – a supporter of legislation known as the Dream Act, which would allow Dreamers to remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation – told the story of Elisha Dawkins, a Jacksonville-area veteran who was raised believing he was a U.S. citizen, but later found out he was actually brought into the U.S. illegally as a small child.
“He was a baby that was brought from the Bahamas at age six months. He grew up in America. He grew up in Jacksonville, in my state. Never knew anything about his roots. Only knew that he was an American. Served two tours in Iraq. Came back, joined the Navy Reserves, had a top secret clearance, was sent to the very sensitive post of Guantanamo where he was given the job as a photographer,” Nelson said. “When it came to be learned that he had come to America as an infant … he was thrown in jail.”
Dawkins made headlines in 2011 when he was jailed for a single count of submitting false information on a passport application. As a result, he was suddenly facing not only incarceration, but also the possibility of deportation from the only country he had ever known.
Immediately upon hearing of Dawkins’ situation, Nelson stepped in to help. Nelson pressed the federal government for fairness in the case, and Dawkins was subsequently released and allowed to remain in the U.S. while he applied for citizenship, which he received in 2014.
Nelson also told the story of Cristina Velasquez, a Miami-Dade Community College graduate and current Georgetown University student who was recently accepted into the Teach for America program.
“Cristina came to America at age six from Venezuela,” Nelson said. “If we failed to pass the Dream Act, are we saying we are going to send Cristina back to the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela? A dictatorship that can’t even provide the basic staples to its citizens.”
“This just shouldn’t happen, Nelson said. “And that’s why it’s critical that we pass the Dream Act as soon as possible.”
Below is a rush transcript of Nelson’s speech followed by a background article on Dawkins.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate floor
December 13, 2017
Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, Senator Durbin has been leading a group of us talking about DACA or the Dreamers. I want to tell the senate two stories.
I want to tell you about Elisha Dawkins. He was a baby that was brought from the Bahamas at age 6 months. He grew up in America. He grew up in Jacksonville, in my state. Never knew anything about his roots. Only knew that he was an American. Served two tours in Iraq. Came back, joined the Navy Reserves, had a top secret clearance, was sent to the very sensitive post of Guantanamo where he was given the job as a photographer. Obviously, a very sensitive position. And through an application for a passport, in the checking on the background of a passport, it came to be learned that he had come to America as an infant, and for what reason, for the life of me it has not been explained, but he was arrested and thrown in jail by a U.S. attorney.
Once this case came to the light of day and some of us started speaking out about it, a federal district judge took it in her hands to lecture the U.S. attorney. And only because of that was Elisha Dawkins released from jail, and as a result then we started getting into it, and Elisha Dawkins was finally given his citizenship, and he is now serving in his native Jacksonville, and he is a nurse.
Now, here’s a child that had served two tours in Iraq and was in a top-secret clearance in service to the Navy Reserves in Guantanamo.
This just shouldn’t happen. Individuals in good faith have gone about carrying on, some even knowing as Elisha certainly didn’t know of his undocumented these individuals in good faith have divulged personal information to the Department of Homeland Security that could eventually deport them. And that’s why it’s critical that we pass the Dream Act as soon as possible.
I’ve heard from DACA recipients from all around the country but especially I’ve heard from a lot of them of the 30,000 that are in the state of Florida. I’ve heard from DACA recipients that are valedictorians, that are medical students, even priests. Many are the primary bread winners for their families.
Senator Durbin has already highlighted some of my constituents over the years, including Cristina Velasquez, a graduate of Miami Dade Community College who will soon graduate from Georgetown University and fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher by joining Teach for America.
Cristina came to America at age six from Venezuela, a country whose problems you and I have — Senator Durbin and I, but also the presiding senator today have consistently been concerned about the plight of Venezuela.
And so if we failed to pass the Dream Act, are we saying we are going to send Cristina back to the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela, a dictatorship that can’t even provide the basic staples to its citizens? Are we going to allow this young lady who only grew up thinking she was an American, now graduating from Georgetown and allow her to channel her skills and her passion to ward bettering our communities in need as a teacher?
It doesn’t make any sense to send these kids, to deport them.
The contributions that Dreamers have made are countless and Cristina and Elisha are just two examples. These Dreamers will continue to better our communities if only we would pass the legislation that Senator Durbin is sponsoring and many of us are cosponsoring.
And so rhetorically, this was going to be a time of question and answers, but Senator Durbin allowed me to kick off this session. And I see that we have many other senators to speak.
So, Mr. President, I will yield the floor.
Background article:

Iraq, Guantánamo vet settles passport fraud case

By Carol Rosenberg
Published: July 12, 2011
A U.S. military veteran of the Iraq surge and Guantánamo averted a federal passport fraud trial on Tuesday by settling for probation in a deal that lets him stay in the United States for now and perhaps continue Navy service.
Under the deal, Navy Reserves Petty Officer Elisha Leo Dawkins, 26, ducked a felony conviction and will have the opportunity to settle his citizenship question separately with U.S. immigration authorities.
The U.S. government says he was born in the Bahamas. His lawyer said he grew up in Miami believing he was an American citizen, and went on to serve honorably in both the U.S. Army and Navy.
As a Navy Reserves photographer, he obtained a secret-level clearance and spent seven months chronicling the lives of captives at Guantánamo. He came home in April, to arrest and 10 weeks detention in four federal lockups.
Still, he declared himself undeterred by the experience and eager to return to active duty.
“If America goes to World War III, I’ll be in the front line. This is a great country,” Dawkins said outside the court. He had traded a detainee’s tan prison uniform for a blue suit and tie.
Dawkins trial was slated to begin with jury selection on a single count of making a false statement on a 2006 U.S. passport application. He did not report that he had applied for one in 2005, and was turned down.
Conviction on the charge can carry a 10-year prison sentence. Dawkins had on July 1 spurned the rare federal offer of “pretrial diversion” — a probation program that lets him avoid trial and the risk of a felony conviction.
In a surprise, his court-appointed lawyer Clark Mervis notified Judge Cecilia Altonaga that they had accepted the offer late Monday. Details were still secret Tuesday but his attorney said it did not address the issue of Dawkins’ citizenship. Separately, the U.S. immigration agency has agreed not to detain him on a 1992 removal order.
Experts have said such pre-trial probation packages typically involve rehabilitation, pledges to stay out of trouble and to undertake community service.
Altonaga agreed to abort the trial and send him to the program, provided Dawkins pays $1,600 in jury fees — $40 to each citizen in a pool of 40 jury candidates assembled Tuesday morning, plus their parking and transportation fees.
The debt became part of his probationary agreement.
In court, prosecutor Michael O’Leary said the sailor had a change of heart after hearing the case laid out in trial preparation on Monday. Federal prosecutors had made the offer, said O’Leary, because “his military service did mitigate” any alleged crime.
Outside court, the sailor’s lawyer told him not to say whether he still believed he was a U.S. citizen.
Dawkins declared that sorting that question out was “the next project here” — but said his experience persuaded him of the need to pass The Dream Act. It lets undocumented foreign children who grew up here attain American citizenship.
The case of the man who says he grew up believing he was American, that’s why he enlisted, energized pockets of Miami and the military.
Pastor Kenneth Duke of Miami’s New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church came to court Tuesday, as did a former Navy pilot who has championed his friend’s cause, “Flash” Gordon Schwartz of Jacksonville, where Dawkins now lives.
Also there was an envoy from the office of Democratic U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Bahamian-American first-term Congresswoman who represents the district where Dawkins grew up. Florida
Sen. Bill Nelson, also a Democrat, mentioned Dawkins story in a floor speech on June 29 as proof of the need to adopt The Dream Act.
The sailor’s mother was deported when Dawkins was 8. He grew up in Miami being shuttled between the homes of relatives who considered him a financial burden, the congresswoman said Tuesday.
Knowing he found the strength to overcome those “dark days,” she said, gave her the faith to believe he could survive future immigration issues.
Meantime, she said her staff has strong experience helping Haitians here and would help Dawkins sort out his status.
Plus, Wilson pledged to “preach his cause” on the House floor Wednesday, saying Dawkins exemplified the need for The Dream Act.
As written, she said, the Dream Act would immediately solve Dawkins problem.
A trial would have put the state of Florida’s birth certificate policy under a harsh spotlight.
At age 18, according to state records, Dawkins obtained a “delayed” birth certificate that showed he was born in Miami-Dade County on Oct 21, 1984. But, according to the government case: “None of the documents dated back to 1984, the year of the Defendant’s birth. None established precisely where the Defendant was born in the city of Miami. And none were evidence of citizenship.”
Both sides agree that the issue of the case centered on Dawkins’ intent when he checked a box that said “no” on a 2006 U.S. passport application question on whether he’d applied for one before.
At the time of his arrest, he said Tuesday, he was at his Jacksonville condominium listening to Kenny G and studying for his nursing boards, something he intended to resume.

Nelson calls on Senate to block oil drilling off Atlantic coast

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) today urged his colleagues to take up and pass legislation he and others filed earlier this year to block the Trump administration from opening up additional areas to offshore oil drilling until at least 2022.
The move comes amid reports that the Trump administration is planning to unveil a new five-year oil and gas leasing plan that would open up the entire Atlantic coast to drilling. This new five-year plan, which would go into effect in 2019, would replace the current five-year plan not set to expire until 2022.
“The Trump administration is about to give a huge early Christmas present to the oil industry,” Nelson said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The Department of Interior is preparing to unveil a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing – one that would open up the entire Atlantic coast.”
In April, Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to open up new areas to offshore drilling by altering the current five-year oil and gas leasing plan that took effect earlier this year and doesn’t expire until 2022. In response, Nelson and others filed legislation that would prohibit Zinke from making any changes to the current five-year plan before it expires.
“I urge our colleagues to take up the bill filed earlier this year … that would block an attempt by the administration to open our coasts to oil drilling.” Nelson said. “The stakes are extremely high for the economies of our states.”
Nelson, a long-time opponent of having oil rigs too close to Florida’s coast, often cites the state’s unique environment, its multi-billion dollar, tourism-driven economy and the vital national military training areas as reasons why drilling should not be allowed near Florida’s coast.
In 2006, Nelson and then-Sen. Mel Martinez successfully brokered a deal to ban drilling off Florida’s Gulf coast through the year 2022. Nelson filed legislation earlier this year to extend that ban an additional five years, to 2027.
“Why is the Department of Interior in such a rush?,” Nelson said. “Because the oil industry wants to start drilling in these areas now, and the Trump administration is going to let them do it.”
Full text of the legislation Nelson filed earlier this year can be found here.
Video of Nelson’s speech on the Senate floor today is available here.
Here’s a rush transcript of his remarks:
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson
Remarks on the Senate floor
December 12, 2017
Sen. Nelson: Mr. President, there are all kinds of reports swirling around Washington, and we’re hearing those reports that the Trump administration is about to give a huge early Christmas present to the oil industry, because the reports are that the Department of the Interior is preparing to unveil a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas drilling, one that would open up the entire Atlantic coast of the United States to drilling.
This new five-year plan, which would go into effect in 2019, would replace the current five-year plan which was finalized last year and doesn’t expire until 2022. So why is the Department of Interior in such a rush to waste taxpayers’ money to write a new one? Because the answer is because the oil industry wants to start drilling in these areas now, and the Trump administration is going to let them do it.
While it hasn’t been released yet, we are hearing that the administration’s new plan will open up the entire Atlantic coast to offshore drilling from Maine as far south as Cape Canaveral.
But, Mr. President, let me show you why that’s a problem. This is the east coast of the United States. This is Maine. This is Florida. This is Cape Canaveral. This is Fort Pierce, Florida. Look what happens in the Atlantic coast off of the eastern continental United States. These are all military testing areas. Every one of these hatched areas — every one of these blocks — are places that have limited access because of military testing.
So take, for example, all of this area off the east coast of Florida. There’s a place called Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. There’s a place called the Kennedy Space Center. We are launching commercial and military rockets, and within another year and a half we will be launching rockets, American rockets with American astronauts that, just like the space shuttle before them, will go to and from the International Space Station carrying crew as well as the cargo that it already carries.
Well, when you’re launching it to the International Space Station, or in two years we launch the largest rocket ever from the Kennedy Space Center, the forerunner to the Mars program, taking humans to Mars, where do you think the first stages, or in the case of the new mars rocket called the SLS, the Space Launch System, where do you think it drops its Solid Rocket Boosters? Precisely. Out here, which is exactly why you can’t have oil rigs out here.
Where do you think that all of the commercial rockets coming out of Cape Canaveral right now that put up the host of communication satellites, that is a constellation of satellites, how do you think we get our pinpoint GPS here on earth? Many of those rockets are coming right out of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and increasingly, the commercial activity at the Kennedy Space Center, which is located with the Cape Canaveral air force station.
Or what about all of those scientific satellites that are out there that give us precise measurements on what’s happening to the climate so that when we then track hurricanes, we know precisely and have such great success in predicting the path and the ferocity of a hurricane. All of those rockets are coming out of Cape Canaveral, and they have first stages. And when the first stages burn out, they have to fall someplace. You can’t have oil and gas production out here.
And so the same would be off of Norfolk, Virginia. They also have a launching point there for NASA –Wallops Island — but in the Norfolk area, all of the military that does its training out in the Atlantic, you’re going to have a whole disruption.
Or take, for example, all of the military assets — spy satellites that go into orbit rocketed out of Cape Canaveral, those first stages when burned out have to fall. And that’s why you have a location like Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launching from west to east to get that extra boost of the earth’s rotation. Therefore, less fuel to get to orbit. This is the prime location.
You can’t put oil and gas out here. You can’t have oil rigs off of Cape Canaveral where all of these military NASA and commercial rockets as well as governmental payloads that are not military are going.
So we have heard the loud opposition of the department of defense, chambers of commerce, fishermen and coastal communities all along the Atlantic who weighed in against the administration’s plan to allow drilling off their coast.
We thought we had put this puppy to bed last year when the Obama administration backed off its plans to have these drilling areas. They backed off because of the opposition. They also backed off when it came to Florida. Why? Florida has more beaches than any other state. We don’t have as much coastline. Alaska has the greatest coastline. But last time I checked, Alaska didn’t have a lot of beaches. The one that is blessed with the beautiful beaches is Florida. And when it comes to beaches, that means people want to go to the beach. That means there is a significant tourism-driven economy.
Well, we learned what happened when just the threat of oil on the beach — remember the Deep Water Horizon oil explosion off of Louisiana? Let me show you so that you don’t get confused with all these colors, but in essence all of this yellow over on the other side of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, this area is off limits and it’s in law. And it’s a good thing, because when the deep water horizon spilled off of Louisiana and the wind shifted, and that oil started drifting to the east, and it got as far as Pensacola Beach, and it completely blackened the white sugary sands. And that photograph went all over the world. Pensacola beach is covered up in oil, and the winds kept carrying it forward, and some of it got into Choctawhatchee Bay and the sands of Destin and got as far east as some of the tar balls in Panama City Beach. And then the winds shifted and carried it back. That was the extent of the oil on the beach.
But for one solid year, a tourist year, the tourists did not come to the west coast of Florida because they had seen those pictures of what had happened to Pensacola Beach. All the way down the west coast the Tampa Bay area, the Sarasota, the Fort Myers area, the Naples, Marco Island, the tourists did not come.
And, so, when it comes to Florida, now let’s go back to the Atlantic. You start to do this, you are now threatening the lifeblood of Florida’s economy, its tourism-driven economy. It’s not only a threat to the environment, but it’s a threat to the multibillion-dollar tourism-driven economy.
And so we lost in 2010 an entire season that the tourists did not come to the west coast of Florida. And so that’s why when I gave the list of all those entities, including the U.S. Department of Defense, they don’t want it because of the military areas.
But I also said chambers of commerce. Well, they have awakened to the fact that oil on beaches is a killer of our economy. And thus, it’s not unusual that you will start to see local governments, when this plan is announced later today probably, you will see local governments spring into action, like the Broward County Board of Commissioners has already sent letters opposing drilling off of Florida’s coast.
Floridians understand this issue. That’s why in the past we’ve had such bipartisan agreement all over Florida. Republicans and Democrats alike to keep drilling off of our coast.
But if Big Oil gets its way, every inch of the outer continental shelf is going to be drilled. We saw what happened less than a decade ago, and the scientists would say that we’re still uncovering, for example, the full extent of that BP oil spill and its damage.
So I urge our colleagues to take up the bill filed earlier this year with this senator, Senator Markey and others, that would block an attempt by the administration to open up our coasts to oil drilling.
The stakes are extremely high for the economy of our states all along the eastern coast. Georgia has a substantial tourism-driven economy. You know South Carolina does: Myrtle Beach. What about North Carolina? What about Virginia’s tourism-driven economy? But especially all the military concentration there. And you could go right on up the coast.
Mr. President, the stakes are exceptionally high. We simply can’t risk it.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Gov. Rick Scott in Israel: I Support Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital City

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Florida Stands with Israel


Governor Rick Scott applauded the Trump Administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city and the announcement of plans to move the U.S. Embassy. Governor Scott is leading a trade mission in Israel this week to continue to build on Florida and Israel’s strong relationship. Last week, Governor Scott announced in advance of his trip to Israel that the U.S. Embassy should move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The video was taken earlier today at the Western Wall.
To view the video, see above or click HERE.

Nelson files bill requiring prompt disclosure of corporate data breaches

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Executives attempting to conceal a breach could face up to five years in prison

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, filed legislation today to require companies to quickly notify consumers of a data breach and impose new criminal penalties for executives who try to deliberately conceal such a breach.
The move comes on the heels of Uber’s disclosure last week that it concealed from drivers and customers a 2016 data breach affecting 57 million accounts.
The legislation would, among other things, require companies to notify consumers of a data breach within 30 days; and make it a crime – punishable by up to five years in prison – for knowingly concealing a breach.
“We need a strong federal law in place to hold companies truly accountable for failing to safeguard data or inform consumers when that information has been stolen by hackers,” said Nelson. “Congress can either take action now to pass this long overdue bill or continue to kowtow to special interests who stand in the way of this commonsense proposal. When it comes to doing what’s best for consumers, the choice is clear.”
In addition to requiring that companies quickly notify consumers of a data breach and imposing lengthy jail time for those who try to cover them up, Nelson’s legislation directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to develop strict security standards that businesses would be required to follow to better protect consumers’ personal and financial data. It also provides incentives to businesses that adopt new technologies that make consumer data unusable or unreadable if stolen during a breach.
Nelson introduced similar legislation in the Senate last year.
A copy of the bill filed today is available here.
And here’s a link to video of Nelson’s remarks at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on this issue earlier this month.

UCF Scientist Receives Florida and International Recognition

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A University of Central Florida engineer recognized worldwide as a leader in power electronics and whose work led to the development and commercialization of the first compact single-solar photovoltaic panel was recognized by both the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame and the Royal Scientific Society of Jordan recently.
“Greetings from the Dead Sea, Jordan,” Issa Batarseh, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Florida Solar Energy Center’s Energy System Integration Division, wrote in acceptance remarks for the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame induction gala.
The gala, originally scheduled Sept. 8, was postponed because of Hurricane Irma and was rescheduled for Nov. 6 when Batarseh was already committed to travel to Jordan for the Royal Scientific Society event.
Batarseh was one of eight 2017 inductees to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.  Inductees are required to have at least one U.S. patent and a connection to Florida. A selection committee, comprised of distinguished leaders in research and innovation from throughout Florida, select the inductees after an open nomination process.
Batarseh, who has been at UCF since 1991, holds 28 U.S. patents for technologies focused on the development of advanced systems for solar-energy conversion to improve cost, power density, efficiency and performance.
He joins two other UCF researchers in the hall: Shin-Tson Wu, a professor of optics, who was inducted into the inaugural class in 2014, and M.J. Soileau, professor emeritus of optics, who was named last year.
The Royal Scientific Society of Jordan recognition similarly focused on Batarseh’s contributions to power electronics and specifically the influence he has had on that country’s scientific accomplishments and impact on making science part of the nation’s identity. Batarseh is one of 14 scientists around the world selected for that honor and recognized by the King of Jordan.
Batarseh was born in Jordan and served as president of Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan, from 2010 to 2014 while on professional development leave from UCF. He also served as a Fulbright visiting associate professor at the university in 1997.
He said he knew he wanted to study engineering technology in the early 1980s at the birth of the computer and electronics revolution when microprocessors and personal computers were the news of the day.
“I am inspired by working with highly talented and energetic students and the realization that my work produces new innovations that help our planet become greener and our environment cleaner,” he said.
He is the co-founder of Petra Solar (now Petra Systems), formed in 2006 by licensing Batarseh’s technology to distribute and control solar power from panels and feed it directly into the grid. Shortly after formation, the company received $14 million in venture capital funding for product development and global market expansion. The company established its research and development activities in the Central Florida Research Park and hired UCF graduates, many trained by Batarseh. In 2011, Petra System raised an additional $40 million in venture funding. One of the company’s successes was supplying New Jersey with more than 200,000 utility pole-mounted solar units.
Batarseh and his students also founded Advanced Power Electronic Corp. in Central Florida Research Park. The company, which completed the UCF Business Incubation Program, is still run by UCF graduates. The company specializes in solar energy conversion and integration technologies, and is a leading designer of solar chargers for military applications.
 

Gov. Scott: Securing Florida's Future Budget Includes $178 Million Investment for Florida's Veterans

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On Monday, Governor Rick Scott announced his proposal for $178 million in total funding to support active military, veterans and their families in Florida as part of his 2018-2019 recommended budget. He also announced his support for a proposal being considered by the Constitution Revision Commission to provide free tuition to the families of fallen first responders, state law enforcement officers and military members who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Governor Scott’s $178 million investment for Florida’s active military, veterans and their families includes:

  • $200,000 for search and rescue vessels and protective equipment for our National Guardsmen to use during deployment;
  • Nearly $8 million to begin operations at the Lake Baldwin State Veteran Nursing Home, which will allow this facility to serve more than 110 veterans in the coming year;
  • $2 million for Building Homes for Heroes to build and modify homes for veterans who were severely injured while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan;
  • $2 million for the Florida Defense Support Task Force, which helps support our military and defense communities and the many families who rely on them; and
  • $2.7 million to support veterans looking to obtain employment, start their own businesses and make Florida their home, including $1 million for Veterans Florida to continue their mission of helping veterans find great jobs at Florida businesses.

Click here to view the Securing Florida’s Future Budget complete budget.
Click here to view the Securing Florida’s Future Budget highlights.
Click here to view the Securing Florida’s Future Budget FAQ.