New legislation to try to prevent ‘Dreamers’ – the young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as minors – from the threat of deportation failed to gain much traction in Congress on Monday. That failure has not yet resulted in signs that another government shutdown is on the way.
The new bipartisan bill was unveiled in the Senate, but despite the support of Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, appeared to be dismissed out of hand by President Donald Trump, who said that any such deal needs to include funding for the wall on the border between the US and Mexico, which was part of his election campaign promises in 2016. Last month, the White House rejected a broader bill created by both Republican Senator, Lindsey Graham, and Durbin.
On Monday, lawmakers scrambled to come up with a stopgap spending bill to avoid agencies across the US again having to close down when the current funding expires on Thursday. The failure of Congress to come to a deal on immigration resulted in the delay of a temporary spending bill in the middle of last month, triggering a government shutdown that lasted three days. This time, both sides of the political aisle were avoiding such ultimatums.
The bipartisan compromise from Democrat Senator, Chris Coons, and Republican Senator, John McCain, would bolster border security and help the so-called ‘Dreamers’ to avoid deportation and get on a pathway to US citizenship. The Senators say these are the two most pressing issues currently faced by Congress.