UPDATED AT 6:08 P.M. JAN. 25:
The White House issued a statement Wednesday saying it will release a legislative framework Monday that represents a compromise on immigration that members of both parties can support.
According to the statement, the framework will secure the building of a border wall, provide a “permanent solution” to DACA and include other immigration reforms.
Moreover, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tweeted that more than 17,200 DACA recipients lost their status today.
As of today 17,260 DACA recipients have lost their status & live in constant fear of deportation from the only country they know as home. Congress must #ProtectDreamers. pic.twitter.com/g5lpgDDZUc
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 25, 2018
The White House also released a statement Wednesday saying President Donald Trump wants Congress to end chain migration as part of any legislative deal on DACA.
“Under our current Chain Migration system, newcomers are admitted to the United States based on family ties and distant relations, as opposed to a merit-based system that selects newcomers based on economic and national security criteria,” according to the statement.
Original story:
Both houses of Congress and President Donald Trump approved a short-term funding bill that would keep the government running through Feb. 8, ending the three-day shutdown and reopening negotiations to address immigration.
Trump signed a bill Monday night officially ending the government shutdown.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 266-150 earlier that day to reopen the government after the Senate passed the legislation hours before on a vote of 81-18.
Following a deal reached between U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the passing of the short-term funding measure came after a promise from the Republican official to address the future of DACA recipients.
Yesterday an overwhelming bipartisan majority voted to:
✔️ end a filibuster of government funding
✔️ fund for our men and women in uniform
✔️ extend #CHIP
✔️ further delay three Obamacare taxes— Leader McConnell (@SenateMajLdr) January 23, 2018
“We all know what comes next–the challenging negotiations on a host of serious issues,” McConnell said after the shutdown ended. “The weeks ahead will require the best from all of us.”
Such issues include the future of DACA and immigration, as well as military spending, disaster relief and health care.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provides about 800,000 young people who were brought illegally to the United States as children with temporary protection from deportation if they can demonstrate that they meet several criteria, according to whitehouse.gov.
On Sept. 5, 2017, Trump rescinded the program leaving recipients of the program in uncertainty.
Mark Kaswan, a UTRGV political science professor, told The Rider that because Republicans control both houses of Congress, it has been difficult to get any sort of legislation regarding DACA.
“Democrats have been trying to push the Republicans to allow Congress to take action, but they haven’t,” Kaswan said. “So, there are no proposals, there’s no legislation on the table, there’s no movement by the Republicans to try and address the situation, specifically for the DACA recipients.”
The professor said Democrats do not have a lot of power, but they can hold things up in the Senate, such as refusing to pass funding resolutions.
If Congress does not pass any type of immigration legislation during the short funding period, Kaswan said the government would shut down again after Feb. 8.
Trump took to Twitter to express his opinions on a government shutdown.
He tweeted:
Nobody knows for sure that the Republicans & Democrats will be able to reach a deal on DACA by February 8, but everyone will be trying….with a big additional focus put on Military Strength and Border Security. The Dems have just learned that a Shutdown is not the answer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2018
Although Kaswan said he believes the short-lived government shutdown did not have a huge impact, the result of it can be viewed two different ways.
“One way of looking at it is that the Democrats have made it clear that they are not going to accept Republicans dragging their feet on this issue anymore; that’s one perspective,” he said. “Another perspective is that the Democrats have shown that they’re going to cave.”
However, an important message the shutdown gives to the American people, according to Kaswan, is that they need to put pressure on their elected representatives to take action on immigration or any other related issues.
