No Relief for Dreamers After Senate Rejects Immigration Bills
San Francisco in January 2009.
Image: Jeff Warren
Dreamers are still in limbo after senators on Thursday struck down four separate immigration proposals and ended the day without a compromise.
A bipartisan bill that would have offered 1.8 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and $25 billion for border security failed after most GOP senators opposed it, when President Donald Trump threatened to veto the legislation.
Trump's own immigration proposal—which would have made it harder for immigrants to bring family members, increased federal deportation powers, and ended the visa lottery system—failed by the widest margin.
Trump has set a deadline for March 5 to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, leaving Dreamers at risk of deportation and essentially holding their futures hostage to leverage support for his campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. In his State of the Union address, Trump brought the family whose two daughters were killed by gang members as an example to say undocumented minors harmed "American" families.
"For decades, open borders have allowed drugs and gangs to pour into our most vulnerable communities,” Trump said in January, adding that "Americans are dreamers too."
A CBS News poll that surveyed more than 2,000 adults (a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points) showed the majority of Americans supported DACA.
...lottery, continues deadly catch-and-release, and bars enforcement even for FUTURE illegal immigrants. Voting for this amendment would be a vote AGAINST law enforcement, and a vote FOR open borders. If Dems are actually serious about DACA, they should support the Grassley bill!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2018
President Trump said he wants to fix the immigration problem he created, now he needs to live up to that. https://t.co/mcrEff8WOh
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) February 16, 2018
I’ve met many #Dreamers and their families as I’ve traveled around the state, and we all have one thing in common – we all want to live the American dream. #ProtectDreamers pic.twitter.com/ebFGOcBYQN
— Sen. Maria Cantwell (@SenatorCantwell) February 15, 2018
