A democratic blue wave in Congress could change the immigration policy: NPR

Just days away from the midterm elections, President Trump has repeatedly tried to draw the country's attention to immigration by maneuvers making headlines.

On Monday, Trump announced the deployment of thousands of soldiers on active duty in the country. the southwestern border. He said on Tuesday that he was considering bypbading the constitutional right to citizenship granted to people born on American soil.

On Wednesday, the president tweeted an inflammatory announcement comparing migrants in the caravan to a convicted cop murderer who entered the United States. unlawfully several years ago. On Thursday, Trump called for new limits on asylum applications.

Trump tries to light his base – Republican voters frequently cite immigration as a major concern – while the government was trying to keep control of the House and Senate. [19659008] With control of the majority of Republicans and the White House in both houses of Congress, Trump introduced profound changes in immigration policy. A "blue wave" in polling stations could change the shape of the debate on immigration.

At the present time, pollsters predict that Democrats will probably take over the House, but not the Senate. That would give Democrats a power they had not used for years.

Frank Sharry, executive director of America & # 39; s Voice, an immigration defense group based in British Columbia, predicted that Democrats would pursue "an aggressive surveillance program." He said that there was "no doubt" that they would use congressional committees to determine who is responsible for the Trump administration's family separation policy, which has sparked international outrage.

This is one of the many policy changes that Trump has made through a decree or the development of administrative rules. . A democratically controlled House could not overthrow the actions of the President, but it could bring a closer look.

"The main thing that changes is that the Democrats will have the power to issue subpoenas and conduct investigations," said Sharry, whose group strongly criticized Trump

A number of his policies Immigration has been controversial. It imposed a travel ban on immigrants from mainly Muslim countries, as well as North Korea and Venezuela. He tried to end the DACA (Deferred Action for Child Arrivals), ending the protections afforded to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought here while they were children. This issue is still before the courts. And Trump has decided to withdraw the temporary protected status status, TPS, from about 300,000 immigrants from seven different countries.

Trump also wants to build a wall on the southern border. Congress has not yet fully funded the $ 25 billion project, and a Democrat-controlled House could attempt to block Trump's spending priorities in immigration.

Trump's best chance of getting an appropriation of the border wall could be during the election session, especially if Democrats are to take power in January.

But first, House Republicans, divided in spending, should overcome these differences. Or, Trump could try to reach an agreement with the Democrats by agreeing to protect some 700,000 DACA beneficiaries and several hundred thousand "Dreamers" who were never covered by this program.

"I think the president would be happy to exchange DACA or even expand the DACA to 2 million people for the effective appropriation of money intended for the wall," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group advocating limits to legal and illegal immigration.

"I think the president would take that in a minute," he said.

But such an agreement – a border funding for the protection of dreamers against expulsion – has already failed once. Assistants from both parties said that a persistent immigration stalemate would likely result in a partial closure of the government by the end of the year.

House of Commons leader Nancy Pelosi said she would not trade anything with Trump to help him get the wall. Pelosi is the big favorite of the presidency of the House if Democrats win it.

"It sounds like a virility for the president, build a wall, and that does not interest me," Pelosi said in his remarks. at the Politics Institute of Harvard Kennedy School in early October

Pelosi said. The protection of dreamers is a legislative priority and Democrats are in favor of strengthening border security measures. But the wall, she said, "is probably the worst way to protect the border."

In addition, any agreement on immigration should go through the Senate.

"If the Republicans retain the Senate, I will not do it" We will not see a DACA bill pbaded unless there are many provisions for enforcement and possibly for legal immigration reforms, " said Chris Chmielenski, deputy director of Numbers USA, who claims to be the largest national-level immigration reduction organization.

There is one thing on which activists on both sides of the debate on the issue. Immigration grant: it is difficult to predict Trump.

"I think that in the end, the X factor in all this is really the administration," said Ali Noorani, Director of the National Immigration Forum, a non-partisan group defending immigration

"Will the President be in a state of mind willing to reach a compromise? Very little evidence has been provided to badert that Trump, frankly, wants to compromise w with the Democrats or even his own Republican Party on the issue of immigration, "said Noorani.

The President having put his hand to the Some predict a new impbade in Congress on any immigration legislation.

"We For too long, people are instigating and claiming that this is a debate on immigration" said Cecilia Munoz of the New America Foundation, who served as director of the Obama administration's domestic policy.

"I do not think that a party change controlling one or two Organs of the US Congress is necessarily enough to bring us to a more in-depth debate. "19659008] And if the Republicans retained control of the House and Senate, that could embolden the President in confirming that his campaign strategy worked well.

But even immigration experts believe that much would depend much on the margin of victory won by several Republicans. Republican candidates at competitions are split between those who support Trump's crackdown and the limits of immigration and those who warn that the president has gone too far, says Chmielenski .

"Thus, a camp could increase its strength within the caucus, but only if it won a larger share of the seats to win," he said. "If the districts are split evenly between the two camps, I do not think it will have much impact."