Stalemate on immigration reform?
WASHINGTON » The Republican-led Senate on Thursday blocked both President Donald Trump’s immigration plan and a bipartisan alternative, a failure that cast doubt on whether Congress will ever resolve the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants.
In a series of afternoon votes, senators failed to muster enough votes for a Republican plan backed by Trump that would have granted legal status to 1.8 million young immigrants and spent at least $25 billion to bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border. It also would havemade changes to family-based legalmigration programs and ended a diversity lottery system used by immigrants from smaller countries.
The vote was 39- 60, well short of the 60 needed.
The Senate also couldn’t produce enough votes for a bipartisan plan that would legalize the same number of undocumented immigrants and appropriate $25 billion for southern border security construction projects over the next decade — not immediately, as Trump wants. The bill also would have curbed family-based immigration programs, but not to the extent Trump is seeking, and it said nothing about the diversity visa lottery program.
The votewas 54- 45, short of the 60 needed.
The White House threatened a veto of that plan before the vote, Trump called it a “total catastrophe.”
The failed votes could plunge the nation’s immigration system into further crisis, as millions of Dreamer immigrants are set to lose legal protections when the Obama- era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programis set to end March 5. Federal court challenges continue, so the program may continue under legal limbo until June.
The votes underscored the inability of Congress to resolve a problem that has vexed Republican and Democratic administrations despite repeated efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration system.
Senators also rejected a watered- down bipartisan plan to grant legal status to dreamers and provide billions in border security. Also coming up short of the necessary votes was a Republican plan to punish socalled “sanctuary” municipalities that refuse to help enforce federal immigration laws.