Senate Begins ‘Wild’ Week of Debate on Immigration, Outcome Unknown

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 12

[....] Liberal interest groups and immigration rights activists have mobilized to insist on legal status for the Dreamers without the concessions demanded by the president and immigration hard-liners: billions for a wall on the Mexican border, an even more aggressive crackdown on illegal immigrants and dramatic changes to the legal immigration system that would favor skilled immigrants over the family members of citizens and green-card holders.

“As the Senate is poised to start debate on the humanitarian crisis Donald Trump caused when he cruelly ended DACA, here’s what every sitting Senator should remember: Americans want the Dream Act — not cruel deals that go against basic American values,” said Corinne Ball, campaign director for MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group.

Conservatives and anti-immigration groups are just as vociferous.

“It was President Obama who created a cruel situation by making promises to a group of illegal aliens who he had no authority to promise what he gave them,” said Rosemary Jenks, the director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group that advocates limiting immigration. “President Trump had a duty to rescind that policy, because the Constitution makes very clear that Congress, not the White House, sets the laws in this land.”

In such a polarized environment, there is a significant chance that the Senate will pass nothing by the end of the week — or that whatever measure the Senate does adopt will be thwarted by the House [.....]