Immigration to Get Freewheeling Debate in the Senate

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler and Siobhan Hughes

February 12, 2018

Immigration to Get Freewheeling Debate in the Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) will begin debate on a shell bill that has no immigration provisions, to be filled in with senators’ amendments. The process could take days or weeks, depending on the number of amendments offered and the amount of time Mr. McConnell wishes to devote to a single policy area.

It is rare these days for a bill to come to the floor that doesn’t have built-in support from the majority party; even rarer still one that is essentially an empty vessel—to be filled with the ideas of whichever group of senators can come up with the needed votes.

The primary goal for many senators is to protect young people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, who will soon lose Obama-era protections. But the lawmakers will consider a wide range of other ideas aimed at combating illegal immigration and overhauling the system of legal immigration.

“It’s real debate on an issue where we really don’t know what the outcome is going to be,” Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) told NBC on Sunday. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

On one end of the spectrum will be an amendment reflecting President Donald Trump’s framework, to be introduced by seven conservative senators. It combines a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants with $25 billion for a border wall and other security measures, and new limits that would ultimately reduce legal immigration by about a third.

It also seeks to speed deportations for children who cross the border alone and family units, both of whom get special treatment under current law. For instance, children from Central America would have their deportation cases quickly decided, as is the case for children from Mexico. The legislation would also allow family units to be kept in immigration jails while they wait for rulings.

On the other end, Democrats are expected to seek a vote on the Dream Act, the legislation that gave “Dreamers” their nickname, which provides a path to citizenship for a larger group of young undocumented immigrants without including border security or other more conservative provisions.

Neither the Trump framework nor the Dream Act are expected to pass. The question is whether anything in between can.

Even if an immigration bill is passed by the Senate, there’s no guarantee it will go anywhere in the House. Speaker Paul Ryan has said he would only bring legislation to the House floor that Mr. Trump supports, and Mr. Trump has insisted his plan be the one the Senate advances.But even if no bill makes it out of Congress, getting lawmakers on the record about such a touchy issue could have wide implications for this year’s midterm elections.

In 2013, the last time the Senate debate immigration, senators approved a sweeping, bipartisan bill, backed by then-President Barack Obama, only to see it die in the GOP-controlled House.

It’s possible that a solution will emerge from a bipartisan group that forced this week’s Senate debate as a way to end last month’s brief government shutdown.

Members of the group, which meets in the offices of Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine), say they are getting closer to releasing one or perhaps multiple amendments, with the aim of pulling enough support from both Republicans and Democrats to pass the Senate.

“The question is, Will we be in a position to be able to bring everyone together around this proposal at the right moment?” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.).

Lawmakers are working against a March 5 deadline, when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program expires. Mr. Trump ended DACA in September and gave Congress six months to legislate a replacement. A federal court has mandated that the administration continue to accept renewals for now, but it could be overturned.

The debate centers on four areas of immigration, each with its own complications.

Protections for the young undocumented immigrants may be the easiest piece of the puzzle. Mr. Trump has agreed to go along with a path to citizenship for about 1.8 million people who were eligible for DACA. Border security, the second element, has become less contentious since Senate Democrats made clear they would go along with a substantial amount of money to expand an existing border wall.

One wrinkle involves some Democrats’ push to also include protections for parents of Dreamers. Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), a longtime sponsor of the Dream Act, is pushing for that as a way to keep families together, but many Republicans balk.

Still, there is little consensus on Trump-backed policy changes aimed at making it harder for certain illegal migrants to put off deportation and win protections in the U.S.

A number of senators have argued that the best approach is to keep the legislation focused on DACA and border security. They say it would be too difficult to find agreement on anything more given that it takes 60 votes in the Senate to advance any bill.

“If we stay focused on those two, I think we can get to 60,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.). “The challenge is, there’s lots of other proposals that both the White House and other members want addressed.”

One involves family migration policy. Under current law, U.S. citizens can sponsor spouses, children, parents and siblings for green cards. Mr. Trump, deriding the system as “chain migration,” wants to limit that to just spouses and minor children.

Senate Democrats agreed to limits on family-based migration as part of a 2013 immigration bill. But that was a comprehensive bill that included, among other things, a path to citizenship for some 11 million undocumented immigrants, well over the 1.8 million young people covered by the Trump plan.

Finally, there is the diversity visa lottery, which each year makes eligible for green cards 50,000 people from countries that are underrepresented in the immigration system, many in Africa.

In the past, Democrats have been willing to reallocate these visas, and last week, administration officials sought to clarify that they aren’t seeking to cut the total number of green cards issued. Some senators said there was consensus building around the idea of overhauling the visa program without ending it.

For all the positive vibes, many are pessimistic about Congress coming to agreement. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said last week that a short-term extension of Dreamers’ temporary status combined with some sort of border-security provision may be the most Congress and the White House can agree to.

“If I were a betting man, I would always bet on the punt, that Congress will punt,” he said. “I just hope we don’t punt on first down. We at least go to the fourth down.”

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