US lawmakers remained at loggerheads on Tuesday over an immigration overhaul as pressure mounted for Congress to act before the expiration of a program that protects hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The Senate was poised this week to begin a highly-anticipated debate on the issue, with Donald Trump seeking enhanced border security measures and other drastic changes to the immigration system in exchange for providing a pathway to citizenship to the so-called “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children.
But even as varying proposals were floated by members of both parties, senators voiced doubts that any of the plans put forward had sufficient votes to pass. The skepticism over the prospect of a deal came as Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said he wished to move on from immigration legislation this week.
“There’s no reason not to come together and get a solution this week,” McConnell said. “This has been going on endlessly.”
The status of Dreamers was thrown into limbo last September when Trump announced he was rescinding the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as Daca, which enabled roughly 700,000 Dreamers to obtain temporary legal status. The president gave Congress until 5 March to replace Daca through legislation, although immigration advocates estimate nearly 19,000 Dreamers have already lost their protections as a result of Trump’s move.
Although Democrats and Republicans have both said they support enshrining protections for Dreamers into law, a list of priorities outlined by the White House last month drove a wedge into bipartisan negotiations.
In the framework, Trump embraced a pathway to citizenship for roughly 1.8 million Dreamers, going beyond those covered under Daca. But in exchange, the president demanded funding for his promised wall along the US-Mexico border, an end to the lottery program which allocates visas to immigrants from underrepresented countries, and a scaling back of visas for the families of legal immigrants.
Democrats and immigration advocates balked at Trump’s plan, deeming it a nonstarter. But in a sign of the brewing partisan lines, McConnell said Tuesday that he would support legislation that addressed Trump’s immigration pillars.
Trump also reiterated his aggressive stance on immigration during a roundtable with sheriffs at the White House on Tuesday.
“We’re asking Congress to support our immigration policy that keeps terrorists, drug dealers, criminals, and gang members out of our country,” Trump said.
“We want them out. We don’t want them in.”
McConnell had scheduled this week’s immigration debate as part of a deal to end a three-day government shutdown last month, prompted in part by Democrats’ refusal to support a spending bill that did not resolve the status of Dreamers. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, ultimately reached an agreement with McConnell to hold a debate. But the wildly disparate views on how to replace Daca were left unaddressed.
On Tuesday, Schumer proposed holding two consecutive votes – one on Trump’s proposal, and then another on a bipartisan bill offered by the Arizona senator John McCain, a Republican, and the Delaware senator Chris Coons, a Democrat. The latter compromise offers a path to citizenship for Dreamers and would impose more stringent border security measures, but does not include funding for Trump’s wall.
Although Schumer acknowledged neither of the two proposals would garner enough votes to pass, the tallies would help define “the parameters” of a possible deal.
Trump’s plan has drawn criticism even within Republican corners, namely over the president’s desire to slash legal immigration. On Tuesday, the Republican-leaning Chamber of Commerce added its voice to the chorus of conservatives pushing back against aspects of Trump’s framework, stating it “strongly opposes” any reduction in legal immigration as part of a deal.
“A functioning immigration system should promote legal immigration, not discourage it,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the Senate. “A reduction in legal immigration will hinder overall economic growth and only encourage additional illegal immigration.”
Despite the partisan rancor, aides on Capitol Hill privately suggested there was hope yet for a breakthrough. The question, they said, could lie in the nature of amendments offered on the floor, and the extent to which politically motivated measures might derail negotiations.
On Tuesday alone, Schumer objected when McConnell attempted to tee up a vote on an amendment that would crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities”, another key target of Trump and Republicans, arguing it was irrelevant to the central debate over Dreamers.