Senators voice doubts that any plan to keep the Daca program alive has the votes to pass, as the deadline to act approaches

US lawmakers remained at loggerheads on Tuesday over an immigration overhaul as pressure mounted for Congress to act before the expiration of a program that protects hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants from deportation.

The Senate was poised this week to begin a highly-anticipated debate on the issue, with Donald Trump seeking enhanced border security measures and other drastic changes to the immigration system in exchange for providing a pathway to citizenship to the so-called “Dreamers” – undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children.

Quick guide What is Daca and who are the Dreamers? Show Hide Who are the Dreamers? Dreamers are young immigrants who would qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (Daca) program, enacted under Barack Obama in 2012. Most people in the program entered the US as children and have lived in the US for years “undocumented”. Daca gave them temporary protection from deportation and work permits. Daca was only available to people younger than 31 on 15 June 2012, who arrived in the US before turning 16 and lived there continuously since June 2007. Most Dreamers are from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, and the largest numbers live in California, Texas, Florida and New York. Donald Trump cancelled the program in September but has also said he wants Congress to develop a program to “help” the population. What will happen to the Dreamers? Under the Trump administration, new applications under Daca will no longer be accepted. For those currently in the program, their legal status and other Daca-related permits (such as to work and attend college) will begin expiring in March 2018 – unless Congress passes legislation allowing a new channel for temporary or permanent legal immigration status – and Dreamers will all lose their status by March 2020.

Technically, as their statuses lapse they could be deported and sent back to countries many have no familiarity with. It is still unclear whether this would happen. Fear had been rising in the run-up to last week’s announcement. Those with work permits expiring between 5 September 2017 and 5 March 2018 will be allowed to apply for renewal by 5 October. What does the recent ruling by Judge William Alsup mean? In his ruling, Alsup ordered the Trump administration to restart the program, allowing Daca recipients who already qualify for the program to submit applications for renewal. However, he said the federal government did not have to process new applications from people who had not previously received protection under the program. When the Trump administration ended the Daca program, it allowed Daca recipients whose legal status expired on or before 5 March to renew their legal status. Roughly 22,000 recipients failed to successfully renew their legal status for various reasons. Legal experts and immigration advocates are advising Daca recipients not to file for renewal until the administration provides more information about how it intends to comply with the ruling. “These next days and weeks are going to create a lot of confusion on the legal front,” said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, which has filed a separate lawsuit against the Trump administration’s termination of Daca. Joanna Walters

But even as varying proposals were floated by members of both parties, senators voiced doubts that any of the plans put forward had sufficient votes to pass. The skepticism over the prospect of a deal came as Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, said he wished to move on from immigration legislation this week.

“There’s no reason not to come together and get a solution this week,” McConnell said. “This has been going on endlessly.”

The status of Dreamers was thrown into limbo last September when Trump announced he was rescinding the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as Daca, which enabled roughly 700,000 Dreamers to obtain temporary legal status. The president gave Congress until 5 March to replace Daca through legislation, although immigration advocates estimate nearly 19,000 Dreamers have already lost their protections as a result of Trump’s move.

Immigrant groups accuse Democrats of betraying Dreamers Read more

Although Democrats and Republicans have both said they support enshrining protections for Dreamers into law, a list of priorities outlined by the White House last month drove a wedge into bipartisan negotiations.

In the framework, Trump embraced a pathway to citizenship for roughly 1.8 million Dreamers, going beyond those covered under Daca. But in exchange, the president demanded funding for his promised wall along the US-Mexico border, an end to the lottery program which allocates visas to immigrants from underrepresented countries, and a scaling back of visas for the families of legal immigrants.

Democrats and immigration advocates balked at Trump’s plan, deeming it a nonstarter. But in a sign of the brewing partisan lines, McConnell said Tuesday that he would support legislation that addressed Trump’s immigration pillars.

Trump also reiterated his aggressive stance on immigration during a roundtable with sheriffs at the White House on Tuesday.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Immigration activists protest inside the rotunda of the Russell Senate office building on 7 February. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

“We’re asking Congress to support our immigration policy that keeps terrorists, drug dealers, criminals, and gang members out of our country,” Trump said.



“We want them out. We don’t want them in.”

McConnell had scheduled this week’s immigration debate as part of a deal to end a three-day government shutdown last month, prompted in part by Democrats’ refusal to support a spending bill that did not resolve the status of Dreamers. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, ultimately reached an agreement with McConnell to hold a debate. But the wildly disparate views on how to replace Daca were left unaddressed.

On Tuesday, Schumer proposed holding two consecutive votes – one on Trump’s proposal, and then another on a bipartisan bill offered by the Arizona senator John McCain, a Republican, and the Delaware senator Chris Coons, a Democrat. The latter compromise offers a path to citizenship for Dreamers and would impose more stringent border security measures, but does not include funding for Trump’s wall.

Although Schumer acknowledged neither of the two proposals would garner enough votes to pass, the tallies would help define “the parameters” of a possible deal.

Trump’s plan has drawn criticism even within Republican corners, namely over the president’s desire to slash legal immigration. On Tuesday, the Republican-leaning Chamber of Commerce added its voice to the chorus of conservatives pushing back against aspects of Trump’s framework, stating it “strongly opposes” any reduction in legal immigration as part of a deal.

Play Video 2:56 I'm a Dreamer: here is what's happening – video explainer

“A functioning immigration system should promote legal immigration, not discourage it,” the group wrote in a letter addressed to the Senate. “A reduction in legal immigration will hinder overall economic growth and only encourage additional illegal immigration.”

Despite the partisan rancor, aides on Capitol Hill privately suggested there was hope yet for a breakthrough. The question, they said, could lie in the nature of amendments offered on the floor, and the extent to which politically motivated measures might derail negotiations.

On Tuesday alone, Schumer objected when McConnell attempted to tee up a vote on an amendment that would crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities”, another key target of Trump and Republicans, arguing it was irrelevant to the central debate over Dreamers.