Any deal on DACA would likely snowball into an effort to craft a broader immigration package, with other priorities and Democratic concessions on border security tacked on. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J) pleaded for Republican colleagues to focus on the lives of Dreamers and not insist on “onerous” conditions for a deal.
He and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) noted on a press call Tuesday that Republicans have sought steep asylum restrictions.
“I’m not personally willing to give away the fundamental right that America’s had on the question of asylum in a way that basically guts asylum,” Menendez said. He added that Democrats are willing to discuss border security measures for a broader deal.
Durbin is also lining up a potential DACA vote later this year as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 4543), but most proposed amendments don’t make it into the annual package.
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