House GOP unveils bill for young immigrants, $25B for border
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans unveiled a “discussion draft” of a sweeping immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship for young immigrants, $25 billion in border security — including advance funds for President Donald Trump’s wall with Mexico — and cuts to family-based visas in favor of those for immigrants with skills.
It also responds to widespread concern over the sharp rise of families being separated at the border by proposing to keep children in detention with their parents, undoing rules that limit the time minors can be held in custody.
Presented to lawmakers Thursday, the measure sticks to Trump’s immigration priorities while trying to join the party’s warring conservative and moderate factions on an issue that has divided the GOP for years. Passage is far from certain.
Speaker Paul Ryan wants to hold a vote as soon as next week to put the issue to rest before the midterm election. He called it a “very good compromise.”
“Our members felt very, very passionate about having votes on policies they care about, and that is what we are doing,” he said earlier Thursday. “So we’re bringing legislation that’s been carefully crafted and negotiated to the floor. We won’t guarantee passage.”
The 293-page bill represents the kind of ambitious overhaul of the immigration system Republicans have long considered but have been unable to turn into law.
It shifts away from the U.S.’ longtime preference for family immigration to a new system that prioritizes entry based on merits and skills.
It beefs up border security, clamps down on illegal entries and reinforces other immigration laws.
But the main new element is a path to citizenship for as many as 1.8 million young people who have been living in the U.S. illegally since childhood.
Many conservatives object to providing these immigrants with legal status, calling it amnesty for those who broke the rules to get here.
They are commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” based on never-passed proposals in Congress called the DREAM Act that would have provided similar protections for young immigrants.
Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the Freedom Caucus, said Thursday that he continued to have concerns.
The conservative Heritage Action for America organization said it opposed both the compromise bill and a rival conservative measure that’s also set for a vote next week.
The group called the legislation the “codification of amnesty.”
Republicans were reluctant to tackle the “Dreamer” issue this year.
But it took on new urgency when moderate Republicans pushed it to the fore after Trump ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, exposing the young immigrants to deportation.
A federal court case has temporarily allowed the program to keep running.
One Republican, Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, said he likes the way the compromise bill handles young people because “they’re not getting in line in front of anyone else. That’s fair.” But, he added, because those people can eventually apply for citizenship, “they’re not permanently sort of second-class residents of America.”
Under the proposal, some 700,000 DACA recipients, as well as a broader group of young people who didn’t register for the program, could apply for legal status, which would be valid for six years and renewable “indefinitely.”
Eventually, young people, who are under 31 years old and have been in the country since at least June 2007, could begin to be awarded green cards based on a point system.