On Thursday, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said that he wishes to see a bipartisan immigration bill successfully enacted before the Congressional elections in November that would address border security issues as well as those referring to the ‘Dreamers’ and the deferred action dilemma.
Ryan’s comments to a news conference were made as a rogue group of Republicans in the House tried to force action on the issue of Dreamers – young undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as minors. Although Ryan has expressed support for Dreamers in the past, he has not approved any bill to be debated in the House, despite broad support in the US for assisting them in public polls.
The young immigrants were temporarily protected from the threat of deportation from the US when the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was created via executive action by President Barack Obama back in 2012. But, President Donald Trump ordered the program to be terminated last September, though the end of the program, scheduled for 5 March 2018, has since been delayed by legal battles.
In February, the Senate tried to pass legislation that would offer Dreamers permanent protections and enable them to legally work and live in the US and potentially even eventually gain US citizenship, but the attempt failed. Ryan’s comments could be seen as an attempt to quiet the group who are trying to force a vote on the House floor.