Bipartisan group of lawmakers pushes DACA
immigration bill
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[April 18, 2018]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pressure grew in the
U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday to debate legislation
protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation, in a
challenge to President Donald Trump, who has declared as "dead" an
existing program allowing them to legally study and work in the United
States.
A bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers scheduled a
press conference on Wednesday to discuss their plans to force debate in
the full House on a few different proposals for helping the estimated
800,000 immigrants.
They are expected to announce that they have more than 218 House members
on board with moving ahead with a bipartisan bill.
That is the minimum number needed in the 435-member House to pass bills.
For years, Republicans have been deeply divided on immigration
legislation, despite polling that shows a significant majority of voters
want to help young immigrants who crossed into the United States
illegally through no fault of their own.
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A House Democratic aide with knowledge of the maneuverings said an
announcement of the supporters was aimed at pressuring House Speaker
Paul Ryan, a Republican, to move to either bring such legislation to the
House floor or to intensify high-level negotiations on crafting a new
compromise bill.
Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong, said in an emailed statement, "We
continue to work to find the support for a solution that addresses both
border security and DACA."
DACA is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created in
2012 by then-President Barack Obama, giving temporary legal status to
immigrants brought illegally into the United States by their parents or
other relatives when they were children.
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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks at a media briefing
after the House Republican conference on Capitol Hill in Washington,
U.S., April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
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In September, Trump announced he was ending the program, effective
March 5. But a court has ordered the program to continue for
existing beneficiaries until legal challenges to its termination are
resolved.
Strong added that Republicans already have made "good-faith offers"
to protect the young immigrants. Those offers, which included
significant reductions in legal immigration that are being sought by
the Trump administration, were rejected by Democrats.
Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, said that a
bipartisan bill unveiled in January now has "over 218 votes. ... I
think it’s going to have significantly over" that number.
If Ryan were to refuse to bring such legislation to the floor, the
bill's supporters could employ a rarely used procedure to force
action, if they have at least 218 backers.
Under one strategy being weighed, the House could debate the
bipartisan bill, along with two or three other alternatives. A
similar debate played out in the Senate last February, with all the
measures failing to win enough votes to advance.
(Reporting By Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker; editing by Jonathan
Oatis and Diane Craft)
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