GOP forced to act on Dreamer legislation

 

House lawmakers, after years of dodging a vote on immigration, may finally be ready to tackle it this month thanks to external pressure from advocacy groups and internal pressure from GOP members who represent thousands of people who came to the United States illegally as children.

 

Republicans could vote on legislation as soon as this month, although many details remain undecided.

 

What’s clear is the House will vote for the first time in decades on how to legalize a large group of illegal immigrants. In this instance, it’s the 1.8 million so-called Dreamers.

 

Lawmakers are shaping an agreement around a plan to create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, who would be able to apply for a special visa.

 

The House has long avoided this kind of vote, beginning in 2006 when the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have provided a pathway to citizenship for the all the nation’s illegal immigrants. The House at the time ignored the Senate bill and instead passed legislation to strengthen border security. Neither bill cleared Congress.

 

Since then, the House has avoided votes on any bill that legalizes people who came to the country illegally.

 

But “attitudes are changing,” longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said last week as he left a closed-door GOP meeting on immigration reform. “There is a better attitude than anybody has had so far.”

 

Republican leaders had no practical way to dodge an immigration vote this summer. A small group of moderate Republicans teamed up with nearly all Democrats to sign a discharge petition that would eventually force votes on a trio of immigration reform bills this month.

 

House Speaker Paul Ryan and other leaders, who want to avoid votes on the three measures because the proceedings would essentially give control of the floor to the Democrats who make up most of the discharge petition, instead promised a vote on a GOP-written bill by the end of June.

 

“What’s different this time is the leadership has decided we are coming together and we are going to come up with an alternative because we’ve got a discharge petition and [Ryan would] rather have us make that determination," Rohrabacher said.

 

It’s a scenario that would have been inconceivable even a few years ago, when lawmakers preferred to duck the issue, particularly in an election year.

 

But outside groups, namely immigration rights organizations, have mobilized on the Dreamer issue and have put pressure on GOP lawmakers who represent Dreamer-heavy districts.

 

Many of those GOP lawmakers are also facing the most difficult midterm election prospects of their political careers.

 

Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif, who is one of the endangered Republicans and whose district is home to many Dreamers, is an author of the discharge petition.

 

“I want a permanent fix for Dreamers,” Denham told the Washington Examiner. “I’ve been extremely clear about that.”

 

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who was in Congress for past immigration reform attempts but is not running for re-election, said the pro-Dreamer organizations, who often camped outside member offices and held large rallies, made it harder for lawmakers to ignore this time.

 

“There is more activism,” he said. “The Dreamer groups are certainly more organized.”

 

Barton said the discharge petition put forward by Denham and other moderates under re-election pressure played the most important role in prompting the debate.

 

“The discharge petition is the reason the leadership is beginning to address the issue,” Barton said.

 

Denham said he will wait until Tuesday for GOP leaders to come up with an offer in writing that provides the eight-year pathway to citizenship for the Dreamers.

 

If he doesn’t get one, he’ll summon the final three signatures from Republicans waiting in the wings and it will trigger a vote on the three measures, two of which are staunchly opposed by conservatives.

 

Ryan has stressed that the discharge petition measures don’t have enough support to pass. Even the lone conservative bill of the trio lacks enough support because some Republicans oppose its guest worker and E-Verify provisions.

 

“I know it's only three away,” Ryan said, referring to the discharge petition signatures. “And the best we can do is basically make sure that we exhaust the possibilities of coming together as a House Republican Conference to bring a bill to the floor that everyone can support.”

 

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/gop-forced-to-act-on-dreamer-legislation