Immigration battle on
New deadline looms to tackle nation’s ‘Dreamers’
WASHINGTON — As Congress searches for a deal to protect so-called Dreamers from deportation, there are parallels to 2013 when immigration legislation won widespread support in the Senate only to be roundly ignored in the more conservative Republican-led House.
But for all the similarities to that undertaking, there are also differences this time around in the politics, players and public opinion, which bring a new dynamic as lawmakers once again try to tackle immigration.
On Tuesday, Congress got to work on relief for the nearly 800,000 immigrants who grew up in the U.S. after arriving illegally as children. President Donald Trump decided to end the program March 5, though a federal judge has ordered it remain in place pending a court challenge.
As part of the agreement to end the shutdown Monday, Congress gave itself less than three weeks to resolve the issue before the next shutdown threat, Feb. 8, when temporary funding to run the government expires.
“Now, there’s a deadline. Kids’ll be deported or lose their job or lose their schooling,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a member of the original gang of eight senators who crafted a 2013 deal and is at the center of this one. “That’s the forcing mechanism. That’s why it’s different.”
Many immigration advocates were displeased with the deal to reopen the government, fearing it created little incentive for Republicans to compromise with Democrats on the immigration issue, which was a problem in 2013, too.
At the time, the bipartisan gang of eight helped pass a bill that, after enduring weeks of hearing and debate, collapsed without consideration in the House under the weight of Republican opposition to President Barack Obama and any hint of “amnesty” for those here illegally.
Then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost a primary election to an unknown newcomer, Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., in part over Cantor s willingness to consider help for the youngest bloc of immigrants, those in kindergarten. Then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, abandoned the immigration bill, but he, too, was later pushed to resign by his party’s conservative flank.
Much of that standoff in Congress remains.
A bipartisan group of senators, who represent states rather than narrowly tailored House districts, are working on a compromise, while Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has assured the conservative House Freedom Caucus — which helped oust Boehner — that he will not bring up an immigration bill that does not have support from the majority of his majority.
“We have a decent shot to get something through the Senate. We have no shot to get something in the House,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, the immigrant advocacy group. “But if we pass something in the Senate, it puts pressure on Trump to do something.”
Unlike 2013, Republicans now have control of the House and the Senate, and a president from the same party in the White House.
Trump has given mixed views on immigration, but he has said he wants to do something “nice” for the young immigrants, despite his harsh rhetoric and actions toward immigrants and a promise to build a border wall on the Southern border with Mexico.
Confused senators jokingly speak about the “Tuesday president” and the “Thursday president” — referring to the week when Trump welcomed lawmakers to the White House for a televised immigration meeting in which he embraced a bipartisan “bill of love,” only to follow it up two days later when he rejected a compromise and made vulgar comments about excluding immigrants from poorer, African countries.
The outlines of a potential deal would require both sides to accept compromises that they, as of yet, are not publicly willing to make.