House Democrats also plan to retain provisions advanced by the House Judiciary Committee that would streamline the legal immigration system by recapturing unused family- and employment-based green cards, according to two people familiar with the discussions. Reagan-Era Legal Immigration Path Eyed as Option for Democrats
Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) confirmed during a hallway interview Tuesday that the strategy is for Democrats to keep their options open on immigration as the parliamentarian reviews proposals.
House Democrats can then vote on the bill and send it to the Senate, and the caucus can later work out whether to swap in the humanitarian parole proposal, if approved by the parliamentarian, or stick with the registry update and attempt to sidestep the parliamentarian, the sources said. With crunch time approaching on the reconciliation deal, House lawmakers have opted to move forward with the immigration registry language for now, according to the aide and two other sources familiar with the matter. Immigrant Protections Short of Path to Citizenship Gain Traction They aim to present it to the parliamentarian Friday or early next week, but the timing is fluid, a Democratic aide said. Lawmakers are seeking approval for a third proposal that would grant humanitarian parole status, including work authorization and deportation protections for some undocumented immigrants. That procedure allows a simple majority vote in the Senate, and requires bill provisions to be primarily budget-related. It, too, was rejected when the Senate parliamentarian determined it was too policy-oriented to qualify for the budget reconciliation process Democrats are using to pursue their agenda. The registry proposal involves updating the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow people to seek legal status if they arrived in the U.S.
16, 2014, in Chicago.ĭemocrats and Republicans have skirmished for years over whether, and how, to bring millions of undocumented immigrants out of a shadow economy, raising the political stakes on immigration policy. Immigrants participate in a naturalization ceremony in Daley Plaza on Sept.