Congress Takes on Immigration Issue Amid Election Pressures
The Senate begins a rare  open-ended debate on immigration and the fate of the "Dreamer" immigrants on Monday  and Republican senators say they'll introduce  President Donald Trump 's plan. Though  his  proposal has no chance of passage   Trump  may be the most influential voice in the conversation.
If the aim is to pass a legislative solution   Trump  will be a crucial and  at times  complicating player.  His  day-to-day turnabouts on the issues have confounded Democrats and Republicans and led some to urge the White House to minimize  his  role in the debate for fear  he 'll say something that undermines the effort.
Yet  his  ultimate support will be vital if Congress is to overcome election-year pressures against compromise. No Senate deal is likely to see the light of day in the more conservative House without the president's blessing and promise to sell compromise to his hard-line base.
Democrats and some Republicans say they want to help the "Dreamers " young immigrants who have lived in the U.S. illegally since they were children and have only temporarily been protected from deportation by an Obama-era program.  Trump  has said  he  wants to aid them and has even proposed a path to citizenship for 1.8 million  but in exchange wants $25 billion for  his  proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall plus significant curbs to legal immigration.
Seven GOP senators said late Sunday that they will introduce  Trump 's framework  which they called a reasonable compromise that has White House backing. The group includes Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas  John Cornyn of Texas and Iowa's Charles Grassley.
Democrats adamantly oppose  Trump 's plan  particularly  its  barring of legal immigrants from sponsoring their parents or siblings to live in the U.S. It has no chance of getting the 60 votes needed to survive. The plan will give GOP lawmakers a chance to stake out a position  but it could prove an embarrassment to the White House if some Republicans join Democrats and it's rejected by a substantial margin.
In January   Trump  invited two dozen lawmakers from both parties to the White House in what became a nearly hour-long immigration negotiating session.  He  asked them to craft a "bill of love" and said  he 'd sign a solution they'd send  him .
At another White House session days later   he  told Durbin and Graham  he  was rejecting their bipartisan offer.  He  used a profanity to describe African nations and said  he 'd prefer immigrants from Norway  comments that have soured many Democrats about  Trump 's intentions.
 Trump  made a clamp-down on immigration a staple of  his  2016 presidential campaign. As president  he  has mixed expressions of sympathy for Dreamers with rhetoric that equate immigration with crime and drugs.
Last September  he  said  he  was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program  or DACA  which lets Dreamers temporarily live and work in the U.S.  Trump  said President Barack Obama had lacked the legal power to create DACA.
 Trump  gave Congress until March 5 to somehow replace  it   though a federal court has forced  him  to continue its protections.
The Senate begins a rare  open-ended debate on immigration and the fate of the "Dreamer" immigrants on Monday  and Republican senators say they'll introduce  President Donald Trump 's plan. Though [TGT][TGT]  proposal has no chance of passage   Trump  may be the most influential voice in the conversation.
If the aim is to pass a legislative solution   Trump  will be a crucial and  at times  complicating player.  His  day-to-day turnabouts on the issues have confounded Democrats and Republicans and led some to urge the White House to minimize  his  role in the debate for fear  he 'll say something that undermines the effort.
Yet  his  ultimate support will be vital if Congress is to overcome election-year pressures against compromise. No Senate deal is likely to see the light of day in the more conservative House without the president's blessing and promise to sell compromise to his hard-line base.
Democrats and some Republicans say they want to help the "Dreamers " young immigrants who have lived in the U.S. illegally since they were children and have only temporarily been protected from deportation by an Obama-era program.  Trump  has said  he  wants to aid them and has even proposed a path to citizenship for 1.8 million  but in exchange wants $25 billion for  his  proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall plus significant curbs to legal immigration.
Seven GOP senators said late Sunday that they will introduce  Trump 's framework  which they called a reasonable compromise that has White House backing. The group includes Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas  John Cornyn of Texas and Iowa's Charles Grassley.
Democrats adamantly oppose  Trump 's plan  particularly  its  barring of legal immigrants from sponsoring their parents or siblings to live in the U.S. It has no chance of getting the 60 votes needed to survive. The plan will give GOP lawmakers a chance to stake out a position  but it could prove an embarrassment to the White House if some Republicans join Democrats and it's rejected by a substantial margin.
In January   Trump  invited two dozen lawmakers from both parties to the White House in what became a nearly hour-long immigration negotiating session.  He  asked them to craft a "bill of love" and said  he 'd sign a solution they'd send  him .
At another White House session days later   he  told Durbin and Graham  he  was rejecting their bipartisan offer.  He  used a profanity to describe African nations and said  he 'd prefer immigrants from Norway  comments that have soured many Democrats about  Trump 's intentions.
 Trump  made a clamp-down on immigration a staple of  his  2016 presidential campaign. As president  he  has mixed expressions of sympathy for Dreamers with rhetoric that equate immigration with crime and drugs.
Last September  he  said  he  was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program  or DACA  which lets Dreamers temporarily live and work in the U.S.  Trump  said President Barack Obama had lacked the legal power to create DACA.
 Trump  gave Congress until March 5 to somehow replace  it   though a federal court has forced  him  to continue its protections.