House GOP immigration talks hung up over legal status for Dreamers

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...blicans-626499


An internal GOP dispute over how to provide legal status to Dreamers has emerged as the biggest flashpoint among Republicans as they struggle to resolve an intra-party clash over DACA, according to GOP lawmakers and aides.

With the clock ticking and moderate Republicans threatening to use a parliamentary procedure to force a House floor vote to determine the fate of hundreds of thousands undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, pro- and anti-DACA lawmakers are holding a furious round of behind-the-scenes negotiations to try to sort out the issue.




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House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) is representing the hardliners in talks over the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, while Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) have taken the lead for moderates.

In an interview on Tuesday, Meadows praised the moderates for bargaining in good faith, but he also cautioned there is no agreement yet. The two sides are scheduled to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and other GOP leaders on Wednesday to discuss the issue, with a full Republican Conference meeting on immigration scheduled for the following morning.

“Honestly, the moderates have been very reasonable in terms of their willingness to negotiate,” Meadows said. “We’re making great progress. In any deal, it’s the final five minutes of negotiations that mean everything. So this week will be a make-or-break week for immigration.”






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Curbelo in an interview Tuesday evening said he thinks there's a "50 percent chance" moderates can reach an agreement with GOP hardliners to stave off a showdown on the House floor. But the Florida Republican wouldn't say whether moderates would accept a deal that didn't offer a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.

"While we're negotiating, I'm not going to say specifically what I'm for or against," he said. "We want clear, concrete protections for Dreamers and a bridge into the legal immigration system. That's not negotiable."




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Republican sources said the issue of legal status for Dreamers — whether there will be a path to citizenship or some other protected status, and how long it would take to reach that threshold — is the major stumbling point in the talks. A bloc of Freedom Caucus members will never accept any such concession on Dreamers, while others are not as dug in. However, all HFC members say they must see details of any DACA proposal before deciding their final position on the issue.

Curbelo, Denham and other GOP moderates, though, have been pushing a discharge petition that would force a series of floor votes on DACA, despite opposition from party leaders and the HFC. That series of votes would include a more conservative proposal from Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other party leaders are working to prevent any more Republicans from signing onto the petition. As of Tuesday night, 23 Republicans had done so.

As Republicans slug it out among themselves, two Democratic holdouts signaled their support for the petition earlier in the day, bringing the total to 215, just three signatures short of the threshold needed to automatically trigger immigration votes on the floor.


Paul Ryan is pictured. | Getty Images


Congress

House Republicans careen toward immigration showdown



By RACHAEL BADE

Texas Democratic Reps. Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez announced on Tuesday they will sign onto the petition following a week-long recess back home.

"By signing this discharge petition, I do so with the intent of giving 800,000 young people — young Americans — peace of mind and the ability to remain in the only country they call home," Gonzalez and Vela said in a joint statement.

Curbelo, Denham and GOP Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) unveiled a discharge petition last month that would set up floor votes on four immigration proposals. Under the procedural maneuver, the plan with the most votes beyond 218 would pass.

In an interview on Tuesday, Vela said he and Gonzalez changed their minds after spending a week in their districts, which both touch the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition to hearing from Dreamers and their families, both men saw the impact of Trump’s decision to separate families crossing the border up close.

“Vince and I decided that it’s not easy because I still don’t like the process but taking it all in balance, we made the joint decision to sign the discharge petition,” Vela said.

“At the end of the day, our decisions are driven by our local politics and this was a very important issue to the people I talked to here over the last week and that’s what drove my decision,” Vela added, noting he got zero outside pressure from Democratic leadership to sign the petition.

The Texas Democrat said he plans to formally sign onto the discharge petition as soon as he gets back to Washington but noted his flight back from the Lone Star State was canceled and he may miss Tuesday evening votes.


Paul Ryan is pictured. | John Shinkle/POLITICO




GOP scrambles to quell immigration revolt



By RACHAEL BADE

One more Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas), has yet to sign the petition. Cuellar says he will only do so if Democratic leaders publicly commit that they will not trade funding for Trump’s controversial border wall for renewing the DACA program.




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“I need a commitment from Democratic leadership saying that they will not support a border wall in exchange for Dreamers,” Cuellar said in a statement. “The construction of a physical wall is an expensive and inefficient use of our taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars... As I’ve said in the past, I cannot stand behind building a wall—a 14th century solution to a 21st century problem.”

Even if Cuellar ultimately signs on, two more Republicans will still be needed to reach the required 218 signatures. One source with knowledge of the negotiations said Republican DACA supporters were targeting Reps. Daniel Newhouse (R-Wash.) and Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), who is retiring, as the final two signees.

Cuellar is a fucking scumbag. Just because one motherfucker doesn't want "the wall", the rest of us Dreamers have to suffer not become legalized. It's always the lone Democrat who fucks us over in the end. That's all.

I mean they're getting rid of visa lottery, chain migration, sanctuary cities and implementing e-verify, tough interior enforcement and trumps wall.. what else they want ?

e-verify is not happening.
too many people benefit from cheap labor.

Five signatures away from fixing all this mess. I don't want a special path, just gimme the green, let me study, I'll pay taxes far greater than what I'm paying now.

You guys like money, right?

One for one deal is the best way forward.

Dreamer Legalization for FULL BORDER SECURITY money. I think thats a fair deal. I think the conservatives in House are okay with the full border security for now only but they seem to be fighting with regards to the Dreamer legalization.

And then we have scumbag Democrats like Cuellar who don't want "the wall."

WTF type of mess is this. You just can't please everyone in this damn Congress.

Well, it isn't as simple as just 5 more signatures. If I understand correctly, the discharge petition only brings the bill to the floor for a vote.

Then there's the senate and POTUS.

The Freedom Caucus was given a chance to participate in these discussions and they still need to think about it...Curbelo and Denham just go ahead w the discharge petition and give it a vote.

Legalize all Dreamers for Wall $$.

How are you guys feeling about this?

i really have to question you people's knowledge on these things when you think that the house will agree to a bill legalizing 1.8 million people in exchange for just the wall.
they'd be reluctant to even legalizing 700k of us let alone almost 2 million.
best chances of a deal passing are GC status for the 800k daca'ers in exchange for full wall funding, ending DV lottery, and some light reforms to chain migration.