DEMS/DREAMERS/GOP/IMMIGRATION: “The Senate launched a rare and freewheeling immigration debate on Monday [2-12-18], with no bipartisan agreement in sight and no clarity as to whether any proposal will win enough support to pass.
Senators in both parties said members might need to see their favored ideas defeated before they can seriously consider a bipartisan solution. But it was still unclear how many proposals will be considered or what they will be.
The session began Monday with conservative Republicans voicing support for a package that includes President Donald Trump’s priorities but has no Democratic support. Democrats said they were considering putting forward the Dream Act—which would offer a path to citizenship for young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children—without any of the conservative enforcement priorities. Several Democrats said they were still actively hunting for a bipartisan deal.
Finding a compromise has been challenging for many years because it involves so many different areas, each with its own tradeoffs and politics.
The debate this week is expected to involve, at minimum, the fate of so-called Dreamers, border security, the legal rights of people apprehended, the ability of Americans to sponsor their family members for green cards and the future of the diversity lottery, which awards green cards to people from underrepresented countries.”
-Laura Meckler and Siobhan Hughes, “Senate Immigration Debate Begins With No Deal in Sight,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 12, 2018 07:50pm