An obscure congressional rule soon could force the residency issue of younger illegal immigrants – those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – back on the table, the place where Republicans least want it.
If enough House members support a discharge petition to force a vote on four competing immigration bills – and they’re getting close – the issue will be front and center again, just in time for midterm election season.
We’re here because Democrats rejected a gift-wrapped package from President Donald Trump in January that would have given them what they wanted – and more – but they would have had to accept reasonable future immigration limits. The president’s offer would have included a pathway to citizenship for more than 700,000 people who signed up for the Obama-era DACA program and an additional 1.1 million illegal immigrants who could have qualified for the program but didn’t.
By the time negotiations fell apart in March as the overall government spending bill was being finalized, the terms weren’t nearly as generous.
But the rarely used Queen of the Hill rule, if the discharge petition is signed by a majority of House members, would allow the four bills to be brought to the floor and voted on.