The leader of the campaign arm of the Republican Senate, Cory Gardner, told President Donald Trump earlier this month that the White House and Congress need to move on immigration reform now as it will become more difficult nearer to and following the midterm elections in November.
The Colorado Republican says he told the President that the longer the stalemate goes on, the less likely reaching a resolution becomes, and that both of the two major political parties in the US will blame the other for the failure. Several Senators in both parties have restarted bipartisan backchannel talks with each other and the White House, but the Senate seems unwilling to take up the issue following the unproductive results of an immigration debate in February.
The House of Representatives has been besieged by debates over immigration, with several Republican bills likely to be voted on next month. Even if the Republican Party can overcome its internal disagreements and pass a new bill, almost a dozen Senators from both the Republicans and Democrats claim it is unlikely that the Senate would accept it.
Urgency over the issue is being felt in other areas, with donors to the Republican Party pressuring them to move on immigration reform and the political network of the Koch brothers urging the party to embrace the Democrat offer to trade border security compromises in exchange for protection for deferred action recipients. Both parties are concerned by the lack of any credible proposals in the Senate.