Democrats expected to put off vote to protect ‘Dreamers’

Washington — Democrats are backing away from a pledge to force a vote this month over the fate of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children, angering activists but likely averting the threat of a government shutdown at a critical moment in spending negotiations with Republicans and President Donald Trump.

With a deadline of midnight Friday to pass spending legislation, dozens of Democrats had vowed to withhold support if Republicans refused to allow a vote on a measure known as the Dream Act that would allow roughly 1.2 million immigrants to stay legally in the United States.

But a group of vulnerable Democratic senators facing re-election in conservative states next year aren’t willing to go that far — meaning the party is unlikely to muster the votes to block the spending bill.

“We’ve got to get it done, but I’m not drawing a line in the sand that it has to be this week versus two weeks from now,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who faces re-election next year in a state that Trump won by more than 18 points. Other Democrats facing similar head winds echoed that sentiment, including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. Trump won those states by 42 and 19 percentage points, respectively.

Their reluctance to enact legislation protecting “Dreamers” has exposed a rift among Democrats, with immigration advocates staging protests and accusing some Democrats of taking the party’s Latino supporters for granted.

The current push for immigration legislation erupted in September, after Trump vowed to end a program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, instituted by former President Barack Obama via executive action and allowing some immigrants brought into the country as children to stay legally.