Politico
By RACHAEL BADE and HEATHER CAYGLE
June 08, 2018
House Republican leaders have drafted the outline of an immigration framework they hope will stave off an intraparty war over Dreamers.
But negotiators on both sides of the debate emerged from a Friday meeting without an agreement in hand, and many are skeptical that House Republicans — notoriously divided — can come together on such a contentious issue.
Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus and moderate GOP lawmakers left Speaker Paul Ryan’s office Friday afternoon promising to continue talks over the weekend. But key disagreements, particularly over legal status for the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers and border security, continue to bedevil the group ahead of a looming deadline next week.
Rep. Jeff Denham of California, leaving the meeting, said he wanted to see text on a deal by Tuesday — or he would encourage lawmakers to sign the discharge petition to trigger a series of bipartisan DACA votes that Republican leaders are desperately hoping to avoid.
Centrists need to get 218 signatures for the discharge petition by Tuesday — they’re currently three shy of that total — if they want to force the series of votes this month.
Lawmakers in both camps, however, said they would continue negotiating all the way up until June 25, the day the votes would happen, to see if they can’t come to a deal within their own conference. And in a sign of progress, Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida said lawmakers have already begun drafting text of parts of the deal that have been agreed to.
“We got closer,” he said. “I think we’re getting closer on a DACA solution.”
Lawmakers leaving the meeting said consensus was starting to form around how to solve the citizenship question for Dreamers — the main sticking point between conservatives and centrists. Negotiators appear to be leaning toward a new merit-based visa system conceptualized by Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), a Freedom Caucus member and former immigration attorney.
“I think there is a growing consensus for one option, and yet there’s still some details that have to be worked out on that option,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows. The North Carolina Republican also said lawmakers had agreed on the scope of the Dreamer population that would be covered under a deal but wouldn’t divulge the number.
Yet some conservatives in the room are still uncomfortable with the plan and worry it will be labeled a “special pathway” or “amnesty” by the far right, killing any shot at passage.
“There’s still concern about a special pathway to citizenship,” said Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, after the huddle. Asked whether the merit-based green card program would be a “special pathway” in his view, he added: “I think a lot of us feel it’d be interpreted as a special pathway.”
It’s also clear that conservatives want more in exchange for agreeing to this newly floated proposal. Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, another member of the Freedom Caucus, said he wanted to see not only the border secure but asylum reform and an overhaul of sanctuary city policies.
“All those things have to be addressed because this is the one time you’re going to do it,” Perry said. “If there is going to be a normalization of people who came here illegally at some point, and we don’t get those other things, we’re just going to have more people come here.”
In a sign of how sensitive the issue is, a senior Republican source pushed back on any notion that this was a leadership proposal. Rather, the source argued that leadership facilitated the talks with the conference and put together something based on those conversations. Still, the unwillingness to claim the proposal shows just how worried leaders are about blowback from the far right.
The outline includes two options to address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The first is a concept floated by Labrador to create a new visa program that Dreamers and other classes of immigrants could apply for after earning “points,” which members described as a “merit-based green card program.” That plan would end or curb the diversity visa lottery program that President Donald Trump wants to eliminate and then shift those visas to the new program.
Dreamers would eventually be able to apply for citizenship after they transition into the new visa system.
POLITICO was not able to verify the details of the second option in the proposal.
The plan would also end the ability of immigrants to sponsor married adult children and adult siblings. They would still be able to sponsor their minor children and parents.
The outline also includes Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico. The plan would include some sort of shut-off valve for the entire package should the $25 billion in wall money not be allocated in future years.
But border security remains another key obstacle for negotiators — less haggling over a border wall and instead how much to focus on immigration enforcement inside the U.S.
It’s clear negotiators are still far apart on that aspect of the negotiations. Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas left the meeting saying there was full support for including his border security bill in a final deal. But just moments later, Meadows disputed that idea to reporters.
“The McCaul piece of border security is this bill,” McCaul told reporters after the meeting. “That’s not going to change. That’s been wide consensus within the conference is that McCaul’s border security bill is where we want to be.”
Meadows countered: “I hear others talking about the McCaul bill and is that in it, is it not.” To suggest that any one person’s bill is all in there is not accurate.”
McCaul’s proposal would increase border security and enforcement as well as end “catch and release.” The latter is a policy whereby undocumented immigrants are released into the country and given a court date to adjudicate their cases. Critics note immigrants sometimes disappear into the country and skip their appointments.
Last year, Trump announced he was rescinding DACA and called on Congress to codify the program but only after cracking down on illegal immigration. But Democrats and Republicans have been unable to come to an agreement. Many on the left have rejected the insistence on building a wall and curbing legal immigration. The far right, meanwhile, has been skeptical of a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Moderate Republicans from Hispanic-populated swing districts have said they’re sick of the impasse. They’ve threatened to band together with Democrats to use a rare discharge petition procedure to circumvent GOP leaders and put bills protecting Dreamers on the House floor.
Moderates have told GOP leaders they will halt their efforts if a GOP DACA bill finally hits the floor. Their only requirement is that the plan include a pathway to citizenship that they believe is viable for the majority of the DACA population.
Members in both camps weren’t ready to rule out reaching a deal by Tuesday.
“The Caps won this year, didn’t they?” Walker said, referencing the Washington Capitals’ first ever Stanley Cup victory Thursday night. “There’s always time for miracles.”
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