Senate parliamentarian deals blow to Dems' immigration push

Democrats can't use their $3.5 trillion package bolstering social and climate programs for their plan to give millions of immigrants a chance to become citizens, the Senate's parliamentarian said, a crushing blow to what was the party's clearest pathway in years to attaining that long-sought goal.

The decision by Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate's nonpartisan interpreter of its often enigmatic rules, is a damaging and disheartening setback for President Joe Biden, congressional Democrats and their allies in the pro-immigration and progressive communities.

Though they said they'd offer her fresh alternatives, MacDonough's stance badly wounds their hopes of unilaterally enacting - over Republican opposition changes letting several categories of immigrants gain permanent residence and possibly citizenship.

The parliamentarian opinion that emerged Sunday is crucial because it means the immigration provisions could not be included in an immense $3.5 trillion measure that's been shielded from GOP filibusters. Left vulnerable to those bill-killing delays, which require 60 Senate votes to defuse, the immigration language has virtually no chance in the 50-50 Senate. In a three-page memo to senators obtained by The Associated Press, MacDonough noted that under Senate rules, provisions are not allowed in such bills if their budget effect is "merely incidental" to their overall policy impact.

Citing sweeping changes that Democrats would make in immigrants' lives, MacDonough, a onetime immigration attorney, said the language "is by any standard a broad, new immigration policy."

The rejected provisions would open multiyear doorways to legal permanent residence - and perhaps citizenship - for young immigrants brought illegally to the country as children, often called "Dreamers."

Also included would be immigrants with Temporary Protected Status who've fled countries stricken by natural disasters or extreme violence; essential workers and farm workers. Estimates vary because many people can be in more than one category, but the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says 8 million people would be helped by the Democratic effort, MacDonough said. Biden had originally proposed a broader drive that would have affected 11 million immigrants.

Democrats and their proimmigration allies have said they will offer alternative approaches to MacDonough that would open a doorway to permanent status to at least some immigrants.

"We are deeply disappointed in this decision but the fight to provide lawful status for immigrants in budget reconciliation continues," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement. "Senate Democrats have prepared alternate proposals and will be holding additional meetings with the Senate parliamentarian in the coming days."

"A path to permanent residency and citizenship has a significant budgetary impact, great bipartisan support, and above all it is critical to America's recovery," said Kerri Talbot, deputy director of the Immigration Hub, a group of pro-immigration strategists. She said work would continue "to ensure that millions of undocumented immigrants can have lasting protections." The parliamentarian's ruling was riling progressives at a time when Democratic leaders will need virtually every vote in Congress from their party to approve a 10-year, $3.5 trillion bill that embodies Biden's top domestic goals.

It also comes with Republicans already signaling that they will use immigration, linking it to some voters' fears of crime, as a top issue in next year's campaigns for control of the House and Senate. The issue has gained attention in a year when huge numbers of immigrants have been encountered trying to cross the Southwest border. "Democratic leaders refused to resist their progressive base and stand up for the rule of law, even though our border has never been less secure," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He said putting the provisions into filibuster-protected budget measure was "inappropriate and I'm glad it failed."

In fact, both parties have stretched the use of the special budget protections over the years. Democrats used them to enact President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, and Republicans used them during their failed 2017 drive to repeal that statute.

"It would have led to an increased run on the border - beyond the chaos we already have there today," said the Senate Budget Committee's top Republican, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

One alternative advocates have said they're exploring would be to update a "registry" date that allows some immigrants in the U.S. by that time to become permanent residents if they meet certain conditions.