House votes planned on immigration

Conservative, moderate measures to be considered

WASHINGTON — A top Republican aide says the House will vote next week on two immigration bills. The plan comes after GOP moderates and conservatives failed to reach agreement on a compromise measure.

Ashlee Strong, spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, said the votes will head off a petition moderates have been pushing that could force votes on other immigration bills they prefer.

Republicans say one of the bills will be a strongly conservative measure without a path to citizenship for young “Dreamer” immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children. The other will offer citizenship for those immigrants, like moderates want, plus strong border security language conservatives want.

Strong says Republicans will discuss the plan at a closed-door meeting Wednesday.

Three Republicans involved in the talks said centrist lawmakers had coalesced around a proposal that would give young immigrants a chance to eventually become citizens.

In exchange the moderates were willing to make concessions to conservatives on security issues, including providing all $25 billion for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico and curbing legal immigration programs, those Republicans said. The programs included limiting the relatives whom immigrants can bring to the U.S. and ending a lottery that provides visas to people from countries with low immigration rates, the Republicans said.

The participants described the moderates’ plan on condition of anonymity to describe closed-door discussions.

Leaders have been laboring to defuse an election-year disagreement between moderates and conservatives that the party worries will alienate right-leaning voters. For weeks, the two factions have sought ways to bolster border security and provide a route to citizenship.

Moderates led by Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida and Jeff Denham of California have said that without an agreement, they would get the 218 signatures needed on a petition triggering votes this month on four immigration bills. They were three names short but said they had enough supporters to succeed.

If moderates remain short of 218 names, the petition would remain alive and its backers could still try forcing the votes in July.

J. Scott Applewhite The Associated Press Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-wis., departs Tuesday after taking questions from reporters on a closed-door GOP meeting on immigration on Capitol Hill. A spokeswoman for Ryan later said the House would vote on two bills next week.