In addition to the bipartisan group’s proposal, the Senate will likely vote to invoke cloture on three other amendments to the shell bill serving as the immigration vehicle. Both the border wall money and the pathway to citizenship are part of the asks from the White House.
Advertisement
Finally, there’s the question of what Democrats will do, particularly in the wake of criticism from activists that the deal concedes too much to President Trump on border security and internal enforcement. It would make no changes to the diversity visa lottery system, which Mr. Trump wants to end. Associated Press/Carolyn Kaster In a press call with reporters on Wednesday, White House officials said Trump would reject any sort of “band-aid” proposal that failed to address each of his four pillars. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell kept his word and has opened up the legislative process, allowing lawmakers to basically craft compromise legislation from scratch.
“I am asking all senators, in both parties, to support the Grassley bill and to oppose any legislation that fails to fulfill these four pillars”, Trump said in a statement.
Congress and the White House are in the midst of negotiations to find a permanent solution for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children. Details of the legislation remained hazy as Senators worked to rally co-sponsors for the bill. The Trump administration and Republican leaders back a second plan also set for a vote, which would include those provisions plus other Trump priorities, including strict limits on family-based migration and an end to a diversity visa lottery.
That’s most of what Trump wanted, including the border wall that was the signature issue of his presidential campaign. Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Angus King, I-Maine; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.; and Mark Warner, D-Va. “Instead of offering thoughts and advice – or even constructive criticism – they are acting more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well”. Those pathways have the potential to grant citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers brought to the US illegally as children. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., says he will only bring up legislation that has Trump’s full support.
On Thursday morning, McConnell dismissed the plan.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced Wednesday they reached a deal, but the White House and some Republicans quickly declared it unworkable. “That is, pass the Senate, pass the House and earn the president’s signature”. “I have a lot of hope and optimism that we are going to be able to get something done”, he told The Washington Times.
But “compromise is compromise”, Schumer added. But if enough Republicans confirm they’re against it to sink it, some Democrats might want to oppose the bill, especially from the left. But we have to do our jobs today.
Democrats and some Republicans want to provide legal status for the Dreamers.
None of the plans were expected to crack the 60-vote level, which would leave the Senate stalemated with less then three weeks to go before protections for almost 700,000 Dreamers under the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty begin to phase out. But the president threatened to veto the most promising compromise on Thursday, contributing to its defeat.
The legislation from a group of 16 bipartisan senators would offer almost 2 million young undocumented immigrants who came to the USA as children before 2012 – like those protected under DACA – a path to citizenship over 10 to 12 years.
The bill also tells the DHS secretary to prioritize immigration enforcement by those who “have been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, three or more misdemeanors; are a threat to national security or public safety; or are unlawfully present and arrived in the US after June 30, 2018”.
On the other side, the group Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime said in a press release: “The reality is that American families are the ones suffering the most – their children killed – by illegal alien crime”. Besides helping Dreamers achieve citizenship, the president’s measure would have provided wall funding in one burst, rather than doling it out over 10 years as the bipartisan plan proposed.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a meeting on trade with members of Congress at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 13, 2018.
Advertisement
In his statement responding to DHS, Graham said he was “incredibly disappointed” in Nielsen “for allowing her office to become so politicized”.
