Soros-Funded Groups Want Dems to Attach DACA to Every Bill

The groups United We Dream, Indivisible Project and National Immigration Law Center issued a press release last week demanding that congressional Democrats attach the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to every single must-pass bill. Left-wing billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations funds the three groups.

The liberal groups were responding to President Trump announcing that he would be ending Obama’s DACA initiative granting amnesty to nearly 800,000 illegal immigrants. They insist that the new version of DACA be passed without “without dangerous enforcement add-ons.”

The DACA program grants amnesty to illegal immigrant youth brought into the country before age 16. It removes the risk of deportation. It provides them with work permits. DACA is subject to renewal every two years. Since Congress would not pass such a program, President Obama had set up it through his executive powers. Conservative legal scholars argue the action and the program are unconstitutional. (As Obama himself did before taking the action.)

The groups called Democratic leadership out for inaction. “Time and time again, Democratic leaders tell immigrants that relief from deportation would come someday down the road — and that someday never comes. We are tired of waiting.”

Will Congress Pass DACA?

The Soros-funded groups are taking this approach because the GOP-controlled Congress may not pass DACA on its own. DACA expires in six months, but Congress’s calendar is so packed it probably won’t get to the bill. Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) tweeted that it would not happen.

But there may be enough Republicans willing to vote for DACA. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced they are bringing back their Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act. If all 48 Democrats in the Senate back the DREAM Act, only three Republicans are needed to pass it. Besides Graham, Arizona’s Jeff Flake, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis are likely to vote for it.

DACA isn’t as far reaching as the DREAM Act, so it would be easier for the GOP to support. The DREAM Act provides a path to citizenship, green cards and in-state tuition at colleges and universities.

So far, efforts to pass amnesty bills in the past have failed. Ten Democratic senators lost their seats after voting for the “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill in 2013. Fourteen Republicans voted for it. They were Flake, Graham, Murkowski, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, Maine’s Susan Collins, Tennessee’s Bob Corker, Utah’s Orrin Hatch, Nevada’s Dean Heller, North Dakota’s John Hoeven, Arizona’s John McCain, New Jersey’s Jeffrey Chiesa and Florida’s Marco Rubio. This is enough for a filibuster-proof majority.

The numbers play out similarly in the House. The political analysis site FiveThirtyEight observes that 28 Republicans may vote for DACA. If every Democrat votes for it, this provides four more votes than the 218 necessary to pass it.

What Will Trump Do?

Trump has shown he will cross the aisle and side with the Democrats on multi-subject bills that contain items he wants. He signed the Democrats’ version of a bill for hurricane relief last week, which also suspended the debt ceiling.

Conservative Republicans in the House opposed the bill. They wanted the debt-ceiling suspension to be paired with spending cuts to offset the increased debt load. Even if congressional conservatives reject DACA, Trump could find enough moderate Republicans to side with Democrats.

Trump recently said he will not insist that funding for a border wall be attached to a DACA bill. White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders hinted last week that Trump would sign a bill that goes beyond DACA to include the DREAM Act. However, Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon warns that DACA could lead to a civil war within the GOP.

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