Key Republicans in the Senate have started private talks about an immigration plan to protect the hundreds of thousands of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who are known as Dreamers, from deportation and the loss of work permits when the program begins expiring in early 2018.
Preliminary talks show that influential Senators in the Republican Party are keen to come up with a legislative solution to the issue, which will win favor with both President Donald Trump and the Democratic Party. Trump decided to allow a six-month grace period when announcing the closing of the deferred action program, to allow lawmakers to create a permanent version of the program with immigration enforcement and border security provisions attached.
In an interview, Senate Majority Whip, John Cornyn said that a working group to tackle immigration has been convened by Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It includes himself, as well as Republican Senators, Lindsey Graham, Thom Tillis, and James Lankford, together with other lawmakers. Other Republicans involved in the talks include Senators, David Purdue and Jeff Flake, sources claim.
Cornyn said that a solution is possible, but a bipartisan deal seems to be some way off, with Democrats still waiting for the Republicans to issue their demands in return for legalizing Dreamers. Even with Republican Senators, an immigration deal that passes the Senate would then have to pass through the far more conservative House of Representatives.