Senate Heads to Immigration Showdown Votes With No Clear Outcome

• February 15 2018
• Laura Litvan

The Senate is heading toward a showdown on immigration with the risk that members will fail to agree on a plan to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation or keep President Donald Trump’s border-security campaign promises.

The Senate is heading toward a showdown on immigration with the risk that members will fail to agree on a plan to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation or keep President Donald Trump’s border-security campaign promises.

A series of procedural votes expected Thursday will focus on two proposals. A new bipartisan plan would give 1.8 million young immigrants, known as dreamers, a path to citizenship and provide $25 billion for border security. The second, backed by Republican leaders, would include those provisions plus other Trump priorities, including strict limits on family-based migration and an end to a diversity visa lottery. Democrats reject those proposals.

“I’ve got my mind set on one thing: 1.8 million dreamers," said the second-ranking Senate Democrat Dick Durbin, who backs the bipartisan plan. "And I’ve had to ask myself many times, what are you willing to swallow to give 1.8 million dreamers a path to citizenship.”

In a hardball tactic, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided a vote on the GOP plan would come last. That will make it harder for Republican senators who might be willing to back the more modest bipartisan measure. They won’t be able to see if the Trump plan fails first and then move to the pared-down bipartisan measure as a fallback.

This week’s Senate votes mark the first serious immigration debate in the chamber since 2013, when senators overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan measure providing legal status to 11 million undocumented immigrants along with a $46 billion border plan. The House never acted, killing the effort.

Who the ‘Dreamers’ Are, and What They’re Dreaming Of: QuickTake

All sides say they want protection from deportation for the dreamers -- who were brought to the U.S. as children -- but so far they can’t agree on how to do it. Trump seeks to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, as soon as next month. The program has shielded the immigrants from deportation.

The GOP-led House is taking a different approach from the Senate. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said Wednesday that leaders are checking members’ support for a hard-line measure authored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican. It would allow the young immigrants, known as dreamers, to get only three-year renewable legal status. It would crack down on so-called sanctuary cities and end immigration of extended family members, among other provisions.

“It’s not going to be as easy here in the House as it may be in the Senate,” said Representative Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican. Conservatives there see even Trump’s proposal as too favorable to undocumented immigrants over others who came to this country legally, he said.

Additional bills are expected to get Senate votes Thursday, including one by Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania that would crack down on cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcers.

Coons, McCain Plan

A proposal offered by Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona would give dreamers a path to citizenship and require the Department of Homeland Security to implement a border security strategy by January 2021.

McConnell promised Democrats a floor debate on immigration to help end last month’s three-day government shutdown. He and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer have said they want to wrap up immigration legislation this week, though some senators have expressed doubts over whether the chamber can meet that deadline.

The bipartisan compromise emerged after weeks of talks by about two dozen senators, led by GOP Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

‘Hard Compromises’

“You’re down to what most Americans would cheer: strong border security and fair treatment of 1.8 million DACA population," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, referring to the young immigrants.

"There’s a lot of very hard compromises in that bill,” Coons said, adding that he’ll back it.

The president wants to end the diversity visa lottery and limit family-based immigration to spouses and minor children. The family policy would apply to all legal immigrants, not just dreamers.

White House officials who briefed reporters Wednesday said any solution falling short of Trump’s demands would be insufficient.

In the House, Speaker Paul Ryan is taking fire from some in his rank-and-file who want a broader bill that can better enable a crackdown on border crossings and employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican, said anything that is more generous than the Goodlatte bill is going to face a tough road in the House.

“When you start talking about special pathways, that’s where you drive conservatives off the cliff,” Walker said. He said only a few of about 170 members in the Republican Study Committee that he leads will support giving dreamers a way to become citizens that isn’t an option for immigrants who came here legally.