Senate to vote on immigration compromise and Trump plan
— President Donald Trump would veto a bipartisan Senate compromise that would help young “Dreamer” immigrants and build his coveted border wall, the White House threatened on Thursday, fueling doubts that any immigration measures would survive showdown votes.
In a written statement, the White House labeled the proposal “dangerous policy that will harm the nation.” It singled out a provision that directs the government to prioritize enforcement efforts against immigrants who arrive illegally beginning in July.
Senate leaders scheduled votes for Thursday on Trump’s immigration proposal, along with the bipartisan compromise and two other measures. In an ominous sign, the leaders opened the day’s debate by trading blame, as prospects seemed to grow that the chamber’s long-awaited debate on the hot-button issue would end in stalemate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., assailed Democrats for failing to offer “a single proposal that gives us a realistic chance to make law.” Instead, he said, Democrats should back Trump’s “extremely generous” proposal.
Trump would offer 1.8 million Dreamers a 10- to 12-year process for gaining citizenship, provide $25 billion to build his coveted U.S.-Mexico border wall and restrict legal
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., leaves the chamber after a speech which criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policy and supported “Dreamers,” young immigrants helped by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, at the Capitol in Washington.
immigration. Dreamers are immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children who risk deportation because they lack permanent authorization to stay in the U.S.
Instead, Democratic leaders rallied behind a bipartisan plan that would also give 1.8 million Dreamers a chance for citizenship. But while it would provide the $25 billion Trump wants for his wall, it would dole it out over 10 years and lacks most of the limits Trump is seeking on legal immigration.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Trump has “stood in the way of every single proposal that has had a chance of becoming law.” He added, “The American people will blame President Trump and no one else for the failure to J. Scott Applewhite / AP
protect Dreamers.”
Overnight, the Department of Homeland Security said in an emailed statement that the bipartisan proposal would be “the end of immigration enforcement in America.”
That drew fire from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of eight GOP co-sponsors of the bipartisan plan. “Instead of offering thoughts and advice — or even constructive criticism — they are acting more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well,” Graham said in a statement.
The bipartisan compromise was announced by 16 senators with centrist views on the issue and was winning support from many Democrats, but it faced an uncertain fate.