Republican leaders are writing an immigration reform bill that is based on President Trump’s “four pillar” plan to reduce chain migration, secure the border, end the visa lottery system, and provide a pathway to citizenship for up to 1.8 million “Dreamers” who came to the U.S. illegally as children.
The details of the legislation are not complete, lawmakers who met with GOP leaders in a closed-door meeting near the Capitol said on Wednesday, but both moderates and at least some conservatives appeared ready to vote for it.
“We started these negotiations with a fresh perspective, dealing not only with border security and a permanent fix for Dreamers but adding in the president’s four pillars,” Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., a key moderate GOP negotiator, said after the meeting.
The bill will come up for a vote as early as next week and is aimed at garnering enough support from conservative and moderate GOP lawmakers to pass the House without relying on Democrats.
Trump announced the four pillars during his State of the Union address in January and said they are required in an immigration bill he’s willing to sign into law.
“This is an effort to bring our conference together on immigration,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said after the meeting with GOP lawmakers. “Now what we have is an actual chance at making law.
Republican leaders said they will also bring up a vote on a bill authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., that would legalize Dreamers, require employers to use E-Verify, and establish a guest worker program.
The planned consideration of immigration measures staves off a parliamentary move by GOP moderates that would have used a discharge petition to force a vote on three immigration bills, including the Goodlatte bill and two measures that most conservatives viewed as too soft on border security and immigration reform. None had much of a chance of becoming law.
Moderates say they are getting behind the compromise bill GOP leaders are writing, which is a version of Trump’s four pillar plan and includes what they want most – a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers.
“We are very close,” Denham, an author of the discharge petition, said. “We are taking a vote next week.”
Ryan said lawmakers are now working “hand and glove” with the Trump administration on the plan, so that he’ll be willing to sign a bill if it reaches his desk. Trump would also be able to use his influence to push a House-passed bill in the Senate, which has tried but failed to pass various versions of immigration reform, including Trump’s four-pillar plan.
So far the most conservative faction of House Republicans are holding back their support. They want additional changes that would reduce the flow of illegal immigration across the border, such as ending sanctuary cities and stopping the current “catch and release” policy that results in illegal immigrants disappearing into the U.S. and failing to turn up before immigration judges. Conservatives also want to bolster the powers of interior immigration officers, which is likely to draw opposition from moderates who represent immigrant populations.
“You get those core things right then I think there is a path to compromise for what we do with the DACA population,” said Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, a conservative, referring to the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that is now protecting Dreamers from deportation despite court challenges.
Republican leaders have also promised GOP lawmakers a third immigration vote which would take place in July.
It would mandate employers use E-Verify to ensure hires are legally in the United States and would create a guest worker program for immigrants who work in agriculture.
The two provisions are in the Goodlatte bill but they divide Republicans and are part of the reason Goodlatte’s measure will likely fail. Now those provisions will get a separate vote.
“We’ll deal with the E-Verify and all the issues dealing with the undocumented dairy workers and the like, that will be a separate issue voted on in July,” said Rep. Chris Collins, D-N.Y.
