President Trump has already rejected the outlines of the plan, but a bipartisan group of House members introduced their own immigration proposal Monday to grant legal status to potentially millions of illegal immigrants, coupled with a small down payment on the border wall.
The plan comes from the 48-member Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group that says it’s reaching for a solution to the looming March 5 deadline on the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty.
Their plan is effectively the same as the Gang of Six senators deal, led by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Richard Durbin, combining the generous amnesty with just 6 percent of Mr. Trump’s wall and small revisions to when the chain of family migration kicks in.
“No one got everything they wanted, and that’s the reality of governing — and I didn’t feel the Dreamers could wait any longer,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey Democrat and co-chair of the caucus.
The Dreamer deal would be coupled with a budget deal, which could head off another government shutdown showdown on Feb. 8, when current funding expires.
It’s unclear whether the immigration plan has any legs, given Mr. Trump’s opposition to the Gang of Six bill, which he called “weak.”
The House plan envisions a 10-year pathway to citizenship for the 690,000 people covered by DACA, and a 12-year pathway for millions more people who never applied for DACA or who came after that program’s eligibility window.
Those illegal immigrants’ parents, meanwhile, would also get tentative legal status with a new version of DACA. It’s unclear how many people that would apply to.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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