HOUSE OF REPS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “House Republicans are adding to a broad immigration bill a measure making it harder to work in the U.S. without legal documentation and a provision establishing a new agricultural guest-workers program, part of a last-ditch effort to show progress on the issue ahead of the midterm elections. A vote on the bill is scheduled for this week, but support looked shaky on Monday [6-25-18] evening. With Democrats opposed and many conservatives unhappy with other provisions, GOP lawmakers are bracing for the possibility of a second defeat on an immigration bill in as many weeks if they stick to their plans to hold the vote. If the bill dies, the House is then expected to turn its attention to a narrow proposal dealing with the separation of migrant children from their parents, a byproduct of President Donald Trump’s decision to prosecute adults crossing the border. The president weighed in again on Monday, calling for replacing the nation’s ‘obsolete’ and ‘horrible’ immigration laws and saying ‘we have to make them sensible.’ But Mr. Trump has changed his position on the compromise bill between conservative and centrist Republicans several times, and his newest comments did little to smooth out the complicated crosscurrents that House GOP leaders are already struggling to navigate.”
-Siobhan Hughes and Andrew Duehren, “GOP Leaders Bracing for Second Defeat on Immigration,” The Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2018 6:10 pm