Sen. Dick Durbin, in a statement this week, proudly told his Illinois constituents that he was devoting himself to one problem and one problem only – at least until March – and that was finding a way to grant amnesty to the illegal immigrants Obama called Dreamers.
The Democrat, who made headlines last week when he accused President Trump of the now-infamous “shitholes” remark in the White House, said he is fully dedicated to these people, none of whom are, by definition, citizens of the United States.
“Listen, politics ain’t beanbag. When you get into tough, complicated, contentious issues, sometimes rhetoric gets very fiery,” he said, referring to the president’s comments. “If you don’t have a tough skin, this is not a good business to get into. I know what happened. I stand behind every word that I said in terms of that meeting. I’m focused on one thing — not that meeting — but on making sure that those who are being protected by DACA and eligible for the DREAM Act have a future in America. I am focused on that full time.”
Immigration advocates and progressives within the Democratic Party are putting pressure on the leadership to come up with some sort of compromise with the White House that would allow nearly 2 million illegal immigrants to stay in the country without fear of deportation. But so far, the party has been arrogant and quite entitled in its negotiations, refusing to give much of anything to Trump in exchange for amnesty. That may be changing as we approach the deadline for a spending bill agreement, however.
The Arizona Republic got an advanced look at the current bipartisan legislation being negotiated on Capitol Hill and, while it doesn’t sound perfect by any means, it does at least seem like the Democrats are beginning to come off their inexplicable high horse.
From the paper:
The senators, including Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, plan to introduce legislation Wednesday that would provide $18 billion in border-security enhancements over the next decade — including an immediate $1.6 billion down payment on President Donald Trump’s border wall.
In exchange, dreamers would be granted permanent legal status.
The compromise would put them on a 12-year path to citizenship with up to two years credit for time spent with temporary deportation protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration is attempting to phase out on March 5.
Flake’s bipartisan working group has been trying to hammer out a compromise for weeks.
Of course, Flake may not have done his proposal much good by coming out forcefully against the president this week in a Senate floor speech denouncing Trump’s attacks on the media.
Frankly, we’re still hoping this all blows up in the Democrats’ face, but if they are going to get their precious amnesty, the president had better make damn sure he gets a good deal out of them. This whole subject of DACA amnesty is like poison for his political base and it’s counter to the fundamental ideology he ran on in 2016. If it gets us started on the wall, limits chain migration, and ends this idiotic diversity visa lottery, then maybe we’ve got something. If not, forget it.
