Durbin is being an optimistic politician. But, he also knows a lot of things we do not know.

There are multiple things going on right now.

The biggest thing is the surge of minors at the border. In a Politico article, Graham said he was a “hell no” right now due to the “border crisis” even for the DREAM Act. So, we will have to wait and see how the border issue is addressed.

Another thing is that according to Politico and The Hill, Durbin is involved in discussions with a bipartisan group of centrists, including Susan Collins, to address certain issues, including immigration, in order to combat the current hyperpartisan Senate environment, which led to the debate on removing the filibuster among Democrats.

While the current environment is very against our chances, if everything works out, things can happen for us.

The current border crisis can be a catalyst to encourage Democrats to attach somewhat strong border security amendments that they would normally oppose. Due to the increasing debate about nixing the Senate filibuster among Democrats, it may somewhat force some (centrist) Republicans to the discussion table because they want to avoid the “worst case scenario” for the filibuster for them.