What's next for 'dreamers' after Senate immigration bills fail?

Dan Nowicki Daniel Gonzalez
The Republic | azcentral.com
The Senate failed to reach a deal on DACA by Feb. 15, 2018.

The U.S. Senate's rejection Thursday of President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration package and two more moderate bipartisan plans has left "dreamers" with dwindling options as lawmakers scramble to salvage an expiring program to shield them from deportation.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has been leading Senate efforts to find a bipartisan solution that would provide dreamers with a path to citizenship, immediately called for a vote on his contingency legislation.

Flake's stopgap measure would legislatively renew the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program for three years in exchange for $7.6 billion in border-security money over that time frame. The Obama administration program shielded from deportation and provided work permits to young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

MORE: Here's the latest on the DACA debate

Meanwhile, Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota, Rob Portman of Ohio and Jerry Moran of Kansas signaled support for enshrining DACA in law while providing the $25 billion that Trump is seeking for his signature border-wall system.

Trump is trying to end the program created in 2012 via executive action by then-President Barack Obama. On March 5, about 1,000 DACA permits a day will begin to expire, putting DACA recipients at risk of deportation and eliminating their ability to work legally.

Unclear when or if Senate will resume immigration debate

After the various immigration plans failed one by one to secure the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-member chamber, senators left for their weeklong Presidents Day recess.

It's unclear whether the Senate will return to the immigration issue when they reconvene on Feb. 26.

MORE: Who are the DACA DREAMers and how many are here?

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives has not scheduled a vote on any immigration bill, including a Trump-style bill introduced by conservative Republicans, and the Republican-run Senate's decision on Thursday to effectively kill all four immigration proposals dashed hopes that Congress was on the verge of passing immigration legislation protecting dreamers.

 "We are going to do everything we can to protect dreamers, but right now we can’t look a dreamer in the eyes and say, 'Yeah, we think Donald Trump and Congress want to solve the problem.' After today, we can’t say that," said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, an organization that advocates for immigration reforms that include legalizing undocumented immigrants.

"Let’s hope that they realize that unless they change their direction, we are going to commit an error of historic proportions," Sharry said.

In the House, Republicans still may try to push through a Trump-style bill backed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.

"The House may pass the Goodlatte bill, but that really doesn't contribute to the discussion at all," Flake said, because it would have no chance in the Senate.

Flake offers DACA extension bill

Flake told The Arizona Republic he hopes Democrats will go along with his three-year fallback plan, which would extend DACA for three years.

Flake said his preference would be to salvage another plan, which includes a pathway to citizenship for the young undocumented immigrants. But that proposal failed on Thursday to get enough support to advance, so rather than face the uncertainty ahead, "I'm thinking they may want to vote for it (Flake's DACA extension)."

MORE: Flake bill would legalize 'dreamers,' fund wall, preserve legal immigration

Karina Ruiz, a dreamer who is also president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, said she opposes the fallback plan.

Her organization will continue pushing for Congress to pass legislation that provides a path to citizenship for dreamers without making cuts to legal immigration and increases the risk that undocumented parents will be deported.

"We want a benefit, but we don’t want a benefit at the expense of our people being persecuted," she said.

Dreamers plan to protest next week at local offices of several lawmakers around the country, including Flake's, to keep the pressure on, she said. 

"We are not willing to back down," Ruiz said.

Why a deal is difficult

Since announcing he was ending DACA in September, Trump has demanded that major border-security funding and significant changes to the overall immigration system be approved in exchange for a legalization program that would give about 1.8 million dreamers a path to citizenship, including about 690,000 currently protected from deportation under DACA. 

Under his four-pillar plan outlined during his Jan. 30 State of the Union address, Trump wants to reduce future legal immigration by restricting the family-based immigration system and eliminating the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program.

White House officials on Thursday blamed "the Schumer Democrats" and some moderate Republicans for refusing to budge on Trump's priorities of restricting "chain migration" and other changes they say are aimed at protecting American workers. 

"The (Trump-backed) bill was a compromise bill — as demonstrated by the fact that some conservatives opposed its very generous DACA provisions," Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Thursday night in a written statement. "Yet, the Schumer Democrats chose to filibuster it because they are held hostage by the radical left in their party, which opposes any immigration control at all. Today, they sided with an extreme fringe over the hardworking men and women of the Department of Homeland Security."

Sanders said the Trump administration will keep working on an immigration package that includes the president's priorities. The next step, she said, is for the House to move forward with the Goodlatte bill.

MORE: Rep. Paul Gosar misstates crime statistics about 'Daca-aged' immigrants

During a briefing Thursday, a White House official could not guarantee that dreamers would not be deported after March 5 but said they are not generally considered a priority for deportation.

For their part, Democrats say Trump is the one refusing to budge, pointing out that the bill he supported bombed on Thursday, gaining the fewest votes among any of those considered in the Senate.

“This vote is proof that President Trump’s plan will never become law. If he would stop torpedoing bipartisan efforts, a good bill would pass," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement.

Flake also suggested that Trump is demanding too much in return for the DACA fix.

"If the president is going to be so insistent on basically what amounts to comprehensive reform, we can do that," Flake said. "It's just tough to do right now when we're trying to fix DACA."

How it played out Thursday

The Senate on Thursday blocked the Trump-backed plan offered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, as well as bipartisan options offered by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Chris Coons, D-Del., and by a bipartisan group of senators, including Flake, who call themselves the "Common Sense Coalition."

MORE: DACA recipients rush to renew amid uncertainty over program's future

Flake had sponsored another alternative bill that would have provided much of what Trump sought while offering a 12-year path to citizenship for the dreamers and avoiding any cuts to legal immigration levels.

Ultimately, Flake decided to side with the Common Sense Coalition because he thought that proposal had a better shot at reaching the needed 60 votes.