House GOP factions claim progress on immigration compromise
WASHINGTON — Leaders of opposing House GOP factions said Wednesday that they have made some progress toward an immigration deal after meeting with Speaker Paul Ryan.
House GOP leadership has been trying to stop a breakaway group from forcing the passage of legislation that would protect young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation by providing them with a path toward citizenship.
Agreement is not at all certain, but lawmakers appeared hopeful as they raced to meet a self-imposed deadline for a compromise. They’re trying to find common ground between GOP centrists who are pushing the bill to help the immigrant “Dreamers” — young people who have been living in the U.S. illegally since childhood — and conservatives who mostly oppose that approach and want stricter immigration limits and enforcement, as well as funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico. Leadership is expected to present broad outline of a proposal at a private meeting of all Republicans today.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., the head of the conservative Freedom Caucus, emerged saying the closed-door talks were moving “forward, not backward.”
“We’re still not in a situation where there’s agreement,” he told reporters. But he said they made “great progress.”
Ryan fears the bill being pushed by GOP would be so popular with Democrats that it would be easily approved in the House, an election-year embarrassment for Republicans who, mostly, view the approach as amnesty.
Instead, the speaker is taking on the daunting task of trying to craft an alternative that could win the support of conservatives. It’s a tough sell ahead of a looming deadline for possible votes. Ryan exited the meeting declining comment, but said earlier he felt “good about the kind of conversations we’re having.”
A top centrist in the talks, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., said he expects GOP leaders will be presenting “an outline of a potential bill” at Thursday’s meeting. Talks were expected to continue late Wednesday.
The policy and politics of the immigration standoff are complex, even more so in an election year when House control is at stake and the conservative and centrist factions in the House majority have different priorities as lawmakers campaign back home.
Trump is staying out of the fray for now, leaving House Republicans on their own to try to resolve their differences.
“The speaker desperately wants to get something we can coalesce around,” said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., a Trump ally.
Centrist Republicans have pushed the issue forward by relying on an unusual process to collect signatures from lawmakers on a so-called discharge petition. The group is a couple of signatures shy of forcing a vote on its preferred bill over leadership’s objections.
The centrists, whose elections in the fall could determine majority control of the House, are anxious to show voters back home that they have tried to resolve the uncertainty facing the young immigrants. They largely represent districts in California, Florida, New York and other states with larger immigrant populations than those of their conservative colleagues. Some face stiff challenges from Democratic candidates.
Trump announced he would end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed nearly 700,000 young immigrants to obtain permits to work and temporarily stay in the U.S. But the program largely continues temporarily, pending an unresolved legal battle.
Conservative Republicans, who hold influence as the biggest block in the House GOP majority, are opposed to any special path to legal status for the young people unless it comes with other measures they favor. They want to beef up border security, clamp down on workplace employment verification and impose fresh limits on legal immigration by family members.
Some lawmakers want Trump to use his negotiating power to help strike a deal on legislation that he would sign.
“We don’t want to waste our time,” said Rep. John Faso, R-N.Y., who joined in the petition effort. “At the end of the day, he has to get involved.”