DREAM Act Portal Forum - GOP announces DIGNITY plan bill

Washington D.C — During the same week Democrats in the House were expected to move ahead with their first effort at immigration reform during the current Congress, Republican lawmakers announced a new plan for reform.

On Wednesday, March 17, 2021, U.S Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), along with a group of several GOP lawmakers including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and U.S. Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) unveiled proposed immigration reforms during a news conference in Washington, D.C.

They announced the Dignity Plan, which includes protections for Dreamers — the several thousand people who came to the U.S. undocumented as children — as well as a ten year path for those who lived in the shadows here in the U.S. The proposal also plans for allowing immigrant non-felons a path to legal status. Republicans also announced help with attaining English language proficiency is included in the proposed reform.

Speakers during the news conference said the current immigration system leaves people vulnerable to rape and other abuses.

News Channel 3's Lora Painter spoke with a Battle Creek woman who crossed the U.S.- Mexico border undocumented with her family as a child.

They also said control the southern border is a must.

Upton said Congress failed under former President Donald Trump and right now we have a crisis at the border. But he said there is a chance right now to pass a bi-partisan bill.

"We could pass a bill in the House and Senate for the president (Biden) to sign," Upton said. "Let's take up the challenge President Trump gave us."

https://wwmt.com/news/local/congress...on-reform-plan

FIRST IN HUDDLE -- GOP MEETS WITH WOLF ON IMMIGRATION: Chad Wolf, the former acting homeland security secretary, has been meeting with House Republicans, providing them with advice and counseling as it relates to immigration, your Huddle host has learned.

Wolf’s guidance comes amid a surge of migrant children and families being detained at the U.S.-Mexico border and an accompanying political battle over whose fault it is: the Biden administration or his predecessor, Donald Trump.

But Republicans may not be the only ones taking outside meetings. Multiple Hill sources tell our Laura Barron-Lopez that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus today, whose members are certainly expected to ask about the border situation.

This all comes as the House is slated to soon vote on two Dem immigration bills. Melanie reports that GOP leaders are whipping against The Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for Dreamers. There were seven Republicans who previously supported the legislation last Congress, and now some tell Mel they are going to vote against it this go around, citing -- at least in part -- the escalating situation at the border. They argue they don’t want friendlier immigration laws without pairing it with money for securing the border.

Some GOP members also aren’t supporting Dems’ other immigration bill, the Farm Modernization Workforce Act, which more than 30 Republicans supported last Congress. Take Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who says he will likely oppose the bill, despite voting for it last time. In a conversation with Melanie, he cites the crisis at the border and the fact that his Farm Bureau came out against it. (They were opposed to it last time, but they were more “adamant” now, he told her.)

“What is happening on the border today is probably the worst time the Democrats could offer to do this,” GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) told reporters Tuesday night.

SPEAKING OF IMMIGRATION: Freshman Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) will roll out a proposal this morning to provide a framework for addressing the situation at the border that can appeal to both parties.

As you might remember, Salazar attended a Republican Study Committee meeting last month, where she and former Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller got into a back and forth over how the GOP should seek to attract hispanic voters. (Flashback: “I told him that the GOP needs to attract the browns.”)

Senior Republican aides tell me she will focus on five key areas in her plan, which Salazar hopes can be a starting point for Congress overhauling the immigration system, especially since it looks increasingly unlikely President Joe Biden has the votes to push his comprehensive immigration bill through both chambers in its current form.

The five areas: 1-Border security, 2-Asylum Reform, 3-Protection for Dreamers, 4-Practical solutions for undocumented and guest workers, 5-An economic relief component for American workers.

The issue is near and dear to the congresswoman’s heart -- a point she emphasized to your Huddle host when I talked to her late last month. Salazar is also expected to make the appeal to Dems that she will work with them because she is after a bipartisan solution -- one that is “reasonable and compassionate and also workable,” the aides tell me.

Salazar has a unique perspective: Before Congress, Salazar worked as a journalist for 35 years, where she closely covered the issue of immigration. She’s also lived in multiple Central American countries -- including El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua -- so expect that to be a point that she leans into when talking about addressing the issue. As a lawmaker, she represents a district in South Florida that is nearly 80 percent hispanic.

As she previously told me, she is inspired by former President Ronald Reagan's immigration plan 35 years ago that benefited 3 million people. “It’s time for us to do the same thing that Reagan did,” she told me last month.

ALSO HAPPENING TODAY: House Republicans are expected to discuss and potentially vote today on whether to lift an internal ban on earmarks, Melanie scooped last night.

This vote comes after the conference had a lengthy meeting on the matter last week, and while they’re definitely split, it seems like more Republicans want to take advantage of earmarks rather than not. Stay tuned, Melanie and your Huddle host will keep you posted how this goes down.

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