Congress was preparing for some immigration skirmishes. Trump wants a battle royal.

Swim19 · 08-24-2017, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Several different factions in Congress have discrete aspects of immigration policy that they want to change — and they’ve been quietly laying down markers about what changes they’d like to see, in the hopes of assembling a compromise from some or all of the existing proposals if and when Congress really is forced to act.

Quote:

What the Trump White House wants, however, is a comprehensive crackdown paired with a much-less-than-comprehensive legalization bill. It’s way outside the goalposts that Congress has set so far — and way more favorable to the hardliners. And the process of getting it or anything like it through Congress would result in exactly the kind of comprehensive, free-for-all immigration debate that congressional leadership has been anxious to avoid — and that the White House can’t control.

The article goes on to describe the different immigration factions. It's too much to post it all, so if interested read full article here:
The “merit-based legal immigration” faction

The “Deportation Force” faction

The “build a smarter border” faction

The “protect the DREAMers” faction

It's a long article, but worth the read. I think it's a good analysis of what is going on.

Swim19 · 12:41 PM

The end portion of the article is also very interesting. The compromise is a lot more complicated than Democrats agreeing to it.:

Quote:

The White House wants a “grand bargain” — but Trump can’t actually control what’s in it

Before the Trump administration got involved, the markers being laid down by each faction for “what they would want Congress to pass on immigration” were fairly measured requests. Legalizing DACA recipients may be controversial, but it would certainly be easier to swallow than legalizing all 11 million unauthorized immigrants. The Davis-Oliver Act would be a big step up for immigration enforcement, but not quite as aggressive as making the E-Verify system (which checks the legal status of workers and applicants) mandatory for all employers in the US.

The RAISE Act is a broader transformation of immigration policy (in the context of past immigration debates, and what members of Congress care enough about to speak out on) than providing a path to citizenship for all unauthorized immigrants, or mandatory E-Verify. If the other factions are currently operating at a 5 in terms of what they’re willing to ask for, the RAISE Act immediately went to 10.

And if the McClatchy report is accurate, the White House thinks they can get not only something like the RAISE Act, but mandatory E-Verify as well, into their grand bargain. In exchange for getting a 5 on the immigrant-legalization scale, they’d be asking for a 10 on the cutting-legal-immigration scale plus a 10 on the interior-enforcement scale.

The reason that the factions in Congress have been playing small ball, so far, is that they’ve been sticking to bills they think would get a majority of support in Congress without substantial amendments — as long as they were part of a bigger package. Democrats see the negotiations over DACA as “what enforcement bill will we accept with this,” not “how much are we willing to further restrict legalization for DACA recipients.” Some Republicans, meanwhile, see the border and interior enforcement bills as hand in hand.

The RAISE Act doesn’t fit that model. Its fiercest proponents may think it ought to pass as is, alongside some form of legalization for DACA recipients, but everyone else sees it as the start of a conversation — in other words, an opening play in a negotiation that would result in a more moderate RAISE Act.

But other factions can also play that game. If the DACA caucus followed the RAISE Act’s lead, they could propose a bill that allowed all 11 million unauthorized immigrants to become US citizens. If the deportation-force caucus did, they could propose mandatory E-Verify and making unauthorized presence a criminal offense.

Those proposals would have to be negotiated, and moderated, to get enough votes — rather than quickly assembling a passage of moderate-to-moderately-serious bills and passing them with minimal debate.

And then there are the people who aren’t really speaking out yet at all: the members who want more low-skilled immigration, in general or for particular industries in their states. If a large immigration package is being discussed — especially one that addresses “future flows” of legal immigrants — they have every reason to expect that their requests should be considered as part of it.

In other words, it would cause exactly the policy clusterfuck that Republican leadership so desperately wants to avoid. And the stakes would be much higher for every immigrant in the US — and everyone who might ever want to bring or hire one.

eva02 · 08-24-2017, 12:40 PM

It's going to be a shit show!

IamAman · 08-24-2017, 12:58 PM

But we need a simple answer now! How about we blame the Democrats and protest Schumer's office again? Maybe get one of us who speaks poor English to demand stuff on Fox news? Will that work?

Smooth · 08-24-2017, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAman

But we need a simple answer now! How about we blame the Democrats and protest Schumer's office again? Maybe get one of us who speaks poor English to demand stuff on Fox news? Will that work?

Better yet. How about we side with the Democrats, refuse all compromises, oppose Trump at every corner, have DACA taken away, and hide and freeload in your house after your family petition gets approved? <--This is an awesome idea. Votes anyone?

made4u · 08-24-2017, 02:39 PM

Im going to take a break from all this DACA news.....its too much of a rollercoaster ride.

tabi · 08-24-2017, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by made4u

Im going to take a break from all this DACA news.....its too much of a rollercoaster ride.

the only real news is when trump actually makes a decision. things will be clearer congressional wise on what will happen next

IamAman · 08-24-2017, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smooth

Better yet. How about we side with the Democrats, refuse all compromises, oppose Trump at every corner, have DACA taken away, and hide and freeload in your house after your family petition gets approved? <--This is an awesome idea. Votes anyone?

I'm down for that. Better than your plan of giving everything up to Trump without him offering the Dream Act for it. He's offered nothing and you guys are already selling out not just yourselves but your parents.

libertarian1776 · 08-24-2017, 03:36 PM

in a sense this guy is right.

we are already giving up our position of leverage when we agree to everything the opposition is offering, despite the fact the executive branch has not even offered any relief for us but just rather in rhetoric of having "heart."

bad negotiating guys, don't be like got_daca.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamAman

I'm down for that. Better than your plan of giving everything up to Trump without him offering the Dream Act for it. He's offered nothing and you guys are already selling out not just yourselves but your parents.

IamAman · 08-24-2017, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by libertarian1776

in a sense this guy is right.

we are already giving up our position of leverage when we agree to everything the opposition is offering, despite the fact the executive branch has not even offered any relief for us but just rather in rhetoric of having "heart."

bad negotiating guys, don't be like got_daca.

Exactly. Assuming Trump still has all his marbles, we're going up against a guy who literally wrote the book on negotiating and we're already giving away all our leverage. I get it, DACA is in jeopardy and everybody is nervous. It sucks that we're in this position. I get it. I'm just saying we shouldn't get hysteric and attack the people who have a proven track record of supporting us in the hopes that the people who hate us will throw us a bone.

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Congress was preparing for some immigration skirmishes. Trump wants a battle royal.