Senate Fails to Protect Dreamers as all Immigration Bills Bombed Yesterday
Congress and lawmakers have again disappointed the nation. The Senate put four immigration bills yesterday up for a vote in hopes to make good on their promise to protect the Dreamers who risk deportation after March 5th, absent two Federal Courts blocking that action by the Trump Administration. All four bills failed to muster enough votes to make any headway on a bipartisan immigration solution.
After a government shutdown and months of negotiations, the Senate ends this week in a stalemate. It’s been almost 6 months since Trump promised to end the DACA program and that it would be up to Congress to provide a permanent solution for protecting the Dreamers. The most recent Senate failure has many questioning what happens next.
NBC News quoted House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that he would bring legislation to the House floor but only a bill that the president would support, which makes no sense as the President’s bill only got 39 votes.
With Trump’s recent threats to basically veto any bill that doesn’t mimic the White Houses’ immigration framework creates another issue for the Senate to contend with altogether. It begs the question, what would have been the outcome had a bill actually passed the Senate. This kind of uncertainty only makes finding a resolution much harder considering when it came time to vote on the bill closely mimicking that of the White House’s framework received the least support out of all proposed bills. This is a clear indicator that Trump’s preferred immigration plan appears to be unviable in the Senate.
Top Los Angeles immigration attorney and dedicated immigrant advocate, Glenn Fogle believes in the midst of a Senate stalemate, we might finally accomplish more than just an answer for protecting dreamers. As it appears legal immigration is now the real hurdle to a Senate deal on protecting DACA recipients.
“I must be honest and say I’m not shocked at the Senate’s inability to garner the necessary votes to push a bill to the house and finally to the President’s desk for signature. What is interesting is as the Senators head home for a week-long recess we may find ourselves tying the future protection of dreamers in with real legal permanent immigration reform,” said Fogle.
Fogle continued, “As Congress goes back to square one essentially, if the White House, practiced better leadership skills instead of issuing threats, demands and contradictory statements, we may actually make some much needed progress on some key immigration reform issues that have been way past due. Until then we are left to rely on the Federal Courts to protect the innocent regardless of their immigration status.”
