Immigration bill faces showdown

Proposal seen by some conservatives as little more than ‘amnesty.’

NEW YORK — The push toward immigration votes in the House is intensifying the divide among Republicans on one of the party’s most animating issues and fueling concerns that a voter backlash could cost the GOP control of the House in November.

To many conservatives, the compromise immigration proposal released last week by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is little more than “amnesty.”

One tea party group described the Republican plan as “the final betrayal.” Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who is close to President Donald Trump, tweeted Friday that Ryan is “trying to open our borders even more and give illegal immigrants the biggest amnesty

in American history.”

Passage of the bill could alienate conservatives and depress turnout for Republicans. Yet scuttling the bill could turn off independent voters, an especially important bloc for House Republicans competing in dozens of districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election.

“The GOP’s in a tough spot,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. “The hardcore Trump voter has a different point of view than the ever-important independent voter, and there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground.”

The draft legislation, resulting from intense negotiations between moderates and conservatives, includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 1.8 million young immigrants in the country illegally. The plan includes $25 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and other security measures sought by the White House.

“While the bill contains some positive provisions, including full funding for the border wall and closing loopholes in current law that sustain illegal border surges, it is still a mass amnesty,” said RJ Hauman, of the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform.

“This bill hardly fulfills President Trump’s bold promise to fix immigration, and sure isn’t a winning message for the GOP in the midterms,” Hauman said.

Trump will meet with House Republicans on Tuesday week to discuss the issue.

Skittish conservative lawmakers have indicated there’s little chance they would support the current plan unless Trump gives it a full embrace.

“House Republicans are not going to take on immigration without the support and endorsement of President Trump,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the GOP’s chief deputy vote counter.

The politics of the immigration debate have grown more heated since the administration adopted a “zero tolerance” approach at the Southern border. The policy is leading to an increase in the number of detained immigrants being separated from their children.

Trump has tried to blame Democrats for his own administration’s policy, tweeting Saturday that they “can fix their forced family breakup at the Border by working with Republicans on new legislation, for a change!”

On Sunday, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway echoed those thoughts.

“Nobody likes” breaking up families and “seeing babies ripped from their mothers’ arms,” she said.

Conway add that if Democrats are serious about overhauling the system, “they’ll come together again and try to close these loopholes and get real immigration reform.”

To Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the administration is “using the grief, the tears, the pain of these kids as mortar to build our wall. And it’s an effort to extort a bill to their liking in the Congress.”

Facing a national uproar, House GOP leaders included a provision in the immigration proposal that would require families to be kept together for as long as they are in the custody of the Homeland Security Department.

The proposed fix won approval from moderate House Republicans locked in difficult re-election battles, but not from Republican Senate candidates running competitive races in GOP-leaning states. None spoke in support of the bill.

“We’re studying the proposal,” said Arizona Rep. Martha McSally, who is viewed as the GOP establishment’s favorite in one of the top Senate races. “I try not to get swayed by what the emotions are or the pressure. I really try to look at the policy issues.”