GOP factions feud on immigration bill

The conservatives prevented moderate Republicans from bringing legislation to the House floor.

WASHINGTON — A dispute over immigration fueled by renegade GOP moderates was hijacked Tuesday by conservatives who prevented their fellow Republicans from sealing a deal that would have brought legislation to the House floor for the first time in years.

Negotiators left a lastditch meeting short of an agreement, as conservatives balked at a compromise bill that would have given young undocumented immigrants the means to become U.S. citizens and provide billions for President Donald Trump’s border wall.

“This has been a lot of members trying to creatively work through differences to get to an agreement. We’re going to keep working at it because we’re not there yet,” said House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., the No. 3 Republican.

Moderates and hard-liners have been in talks for weeks, trying to find a compromise that could both give the young immigrants permanent legal protections and guarantee improvements in border security and enforcement demanded by conservatives.

Republicans have struggled for years to arrive at any sort of immigration compromise, with pro-business Republicans who support expanding legal immigration and a possible amnesty for those living in the United States illegally sharply at odds with a populist wing that is fervently opposed to amnesty and wants to curtail any legal influx to protect American jobs and wages.

“There’s ongoing discussions at this point,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to find a path forward ... but no deal at this point.”

The standoff raised the possibility that the GOP moderates will defy leadership and try to force votes on a series of immigration bills later this month, an election-year showdown that leaders have warned could cost the GOP its House majority in November’s midterms. The moderates are wielding a rare legislative maneuver, collecting signatures on a “discharge petition.”

Earlier in the day, Scalise warned that said the petition could mean passage of the Dream Act, which would grant permanent legal status to young immigrants who arrived in the United States as minors — a bill that, he said, “threatens national security” because it would not include accompanying enforcement measures that Trump and GOP lawmakers are demanding.

“It does not secure the border,” he said at a morning event hosted by Politico. “There seems to be broad agreement we should secure the border. Well, then, why not go and do it and then address these other problems?”

If three more lawmakers signed the petition by the close of Tuesday’s House session, debate and votes on competing immigration bills — including the Dream Act and more conservative alternatives — would be scheduled for June 25.

If not, the debate would have to wait at least another month, and the failure could sap momentum from the discharge push.