GOP divided lawmakers seek another vote on immigration

Even if congressional leaders manage to pass a bill, members say that it is almost certain that they will fail, highlighting the lack of consensus of the party on how to solve the problem of pimples. pressure. Legislators can then make a narrower proposal specifically aimed at addressing the growing tumult on the practice of separating children from illegal immigrants from their parents. But we do not know if they can get enough support for this legislation either.

The president said over the weekend that he considered a harder immigration stance as a central element of his campaign strategy to defend and expand majorities of the Republican Congress in the November elections. At a political rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, he accused Democrats of supporting "weak and weak borders," saying at one point: "I think I was elected largely because that we are strong at the border. "

In a tweet on Sunday, Mr. Trump raised the stakes, implying that he would like to continue to restrict the legal rights of illegal immigrants, writing: "We can not allow all of these people to invade our When someone enters, we must immediately, without judges or trials, bring them back from where they come in. Our system is a travesty to good immigration policy and law and law enforcement. 39, order. "

Some Republicans in Congress facing tough reelection races are more ambivalent about how much to highlight the problem. Nevada

GOP Sen. Dean Heller,

considered one of the most endangered Republican incumbents, appeared with Mr. Trump on Saturday, but avoided immigration in his remarks, touting instead the tax cuts that Republicans have pushed to through last year. In Nevada, nearly one in five people were born outside of the United States, show government figures, which gives it one of the highest proportions of immigrants in the nation.

Last week,

Rep. Mike Coffman

(R., Colo.), Who faces tough re-election in a district with a large Hispanic population, said that

Stephen Miller,

"This humanitarian disaster that has occurred at the border, with those children who have been ripped off from their parents, I think that he has his fingerprints," said Mr. Coffman, one of the best advisers of Mr. Trump. said in an interview.

But in other districts, lawmakers rank behind Mr. Trump's rhetoric. "The American people … want to know that we are on their side and not on the side of foreigners to come and take the money that they have won," said Reporters Without Borders.

Dana Rohrabacher

(R., California) said in an interview. He intends to oppose the bill backed by House leaders when there is a vote this week.

A new CBS poll pointed to the Republican dilemma on the issue. In the survey conducted Thursday and Friday, 72% of all adults surveyed said that they opposed the policy of family separation and 51% of Republicans said that they favored it. While 58% of all adults said that they disapproved of Trump's treatment of the policy, 81% of Republicans said they approved it.

Mr Trump told GOP lawmakers last week to "stop wasting their time on immigration" until the end of the elections, which he says will favor Republicans if they follow his point of view on this.

But the controversy raging on the issue has convinced many lawmakers that they must have the air to address the subject now.

"I do not care what the executive is saying – I have engaged in my constituencies to try to solve problems"

Rep. Andy Barr

(R., Ky.) Told reporters on Friday. Mr. Barr, who plans to support the immigration bill this week, said that if the immigration review is defeated and voters seek to hold legislators to account, " I can say that I did my part.I pleaded for these reforms. "

The bill is designed to translate a White House plan into a package that could attract support from the entire Republican spectrum. In addition to providing $ 23.4 billion for border security – including technology, physical barriers and a wall separating parts of the United States from Mexico – the draft compromise would give young immigrants illegal status arrived in the United States. June 15, 2007, and open a path to citizenship. This group, known as Dreamers, drew attention after Mr. Trump ended the March date on an Obama era program to protect immigrants from deportation.

But newcomers, mainly from Central America, have quickly overshadowed the initial effort after the Trump administration instituted a policy of prosecuting adults attempting to illegally enter the United States . This policy has provoked a storm of thousands of children. adults arriving at the southern border. Trump signed a decree last week to end the separations, but his aides are struggling to implement it and reunite separated families.

Now, much of the battle on Capitol Hill is focused on dealing with the recent influx of migrants. Republican leaders are focusing on the provisions of the immigration compromise bill that would address the logistical and legal hurdles facing the Trump administration after the president has decided to stay true to its "zero tolerance" policy.

The bill would allow some of the new border security to be dedicated to family residential centers, so that adults and children can be detained together – an idea the Democrats oppose, saying it would create a system of indefinite detention. The law would also override a Federal Court ruling prohibiting children from jailing more than 20 days, even with their parents. The Trump administration had cited the agreement, known as the Flores settlement, when it began to divide children and their parents.

The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), Said he would like to vote soon on a restrictive measure regarding the separation of families. House tenant

Paul Ryan

(R., Wisconsin) last week declined to comment on the next steps if a large immigration bill failed to convince the House, although there is broad support among Republicans for a narrow measure to keep families together.

Write to Siobhan Hughes at [email protected]