AMODEI SAYS HE’S READY TO MOVE ON PROPOSALS

Senate and House, where it has 200 co-sponsors.

“For many years I never talked about my story, I never shared that I was undocumented because I didn’t have that protection,” Castro said last week during a conference call with immigration reform advocates. “DACA really offered me the opportunity to step out of the shadows and no longer be afraid and continue to advocate for the people that did not qualify for DACA.”

Nevada resident Karla Rodriguez Beltran, also a DACA participant, said that DACA had given her a freedom that she’d like her entire community to have.

“DACA gave me the economic agency that I otherwise would not have been able to have,” said Beltran, Nevada coordinator for Mi Familia Vota. “It has allowed me to go to college and to really partake in society.”

Also speaking in support of the DREAM Act on the conference call: state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-Las Vegas; Clark County Commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Giunchigliani; Laura Martin, associate director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada; and West Wendover Mayor Daniel Corona, whose city is in U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei’s district. They urged the two Republicans in Nevada’s congressional delegation, Sen. Dean Heller and Amodei, to support the bill.

Amodei is a co-sponsor of the Recognizing America’s Children Act, which only applies to immigrants brought to the country as children. He said one major provision of the RAC Act gets those who qualify a green card arguably faster than the DREAM Act.

“If you really want to do something for people who are defined as Dreamers, whether they’re in the program or not, you might see that some of this stuff is actually a better deal,” he said.

He said last week that he’d be willing to consider joining a push to put the DREAM Act past committee and to the floor if no other solution moved forward by the end of the year.

He said he wouldn’t sign on as a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, noting changes he’d like to see, such as stiffer education requirements. Amodei also said that, barring any changes or other bills that might come to the floor, he’d lean toward voting for the DREAM Act.

DREAM Act supporters are aiming for movement on the bill this year. There are 195 lawmakers signed onto a discharge petition to force the DREAM Act to the floor. Roughly two dozen more signatures are needed before the petition goes into effect. One of the lawmakers to sign on is Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., who was born in Mexico, became a citizen after his visa expired and then ran for office.

Amodei said the RAC Act and the DREAM Act are similar, with only a few differences, such as the age requirement. RAC would apply to children who arrived in the United States before the age of 16 while the DREAM Act applies to those who were under 18 when they first arrived.

“When we talk about prioritizing, it’s like guess what, you got two bills there that are almost identical,” he said. “Now’s the time.”

Amodei said he had an immigration discussion last week with aides to House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Amodei said he told them he wanted a votetaken on DACA relief legislation so that everybody could come out as yes or no, and then the debate can move forward.

“When push comes to shove, if I have opportunity to vote on something before the end of the year, I’m voting,” Amodei said. “I am sick and tired of trying to defend nothing when that’s not my true belief. I think I’ve been a team player ... it’s time for action.”

Amodei said he got the sense from the aides that Ryan was leaning toward moving on DACA relief before the end of the year. He said tying such legislation to constructing a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a campaign promise of Trump, would be a mistake and isolate Democrats.

In response to reports that Ryan may try to include DACA relief in a year-end spending bill, Amodei said he didn’t think that would be feasible.

“Year-end spending things are enough of a mess without trying to do nonspending things,” he said.

Amodei said Congress did not have a good track record on immigration reform, with the last major overhaul coming during the Reagan administration. An effort in 2013 to get a comprehensive reform bill through the House failed after it passed the Senate, where Heller was among the Republicans to support it.

“While I have been critical of the fact that the House has not brought much to the floor ... I sure as heck wouldn’t be critical of the failure of the House to rubber stamp anything of the Senate without taking a look at it,” Amodei said of GOP leadership not bringing the bill up for a floor vote at the time.

A Heller spokeswoman did not return a request for comment. His previous statements have not answered whether he supported the DREAM Act but instead pointed to his support of the BRIDGE Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in January that would make it possible for people who meet certain requirements to apply for and receive “provisional protected presence” and work authorization in the country. The requirements people would have to meet are essentially the same as the requirements for DACA under the program that was created in 2012, according to the National Immigration Law Center.