DACA

The Senate blocked an amendment on Thursday, 50-to-47, that would have ended the partial government shutdown by trading a 3-year DACA amnesty for $5.7 billion in border funding. The motion to bring the amendment to the floor needed 60 votes. The Senate also blocked an amendment offered by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), 52-to-44, from coming to the floor for a vote. The Schumer amendment would have provided the closed federal agencies with funding for two weeks.

A group of 20 Senators from both sides of the aisle are reportedly working on a compromise aimed at ending the nearly month-long partial government shutdown over Pres. Trump's request for $5.7 billion to build additional barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. No details of any possible deal have been released, but the Gang of 20 Senators plan to send Pres. Trump a letter urging him to agree to a 3-week spending bill to re-open the government, while a proposal is drafted.

Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen issued a ruling on Friday that denies a request from eight states, led by Texas, to temporarily halt the Obama-era DACA executive amnesty. But Judge Hanen did indicate in his decision that he will likely rule that the program is illegal.

Both candidates in Georgia's 2018 Gubernatorial primary talked about illegal immigration, but chose to focus on criminal aliens while totally ignoring the economic impact that the hiring of unauthorized workers has on Georgia workers.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Thursday that it approved 20,572 new DACA applicants between October 2017 and June 2018 in addition to already having renewed status for 185,086 DACA beneficiaries.

The House of Representatives firmly rejected H.R. 6136, the Goodlatte-Ryan-Denham Amnesty bill, today by a vote of 121-to-301. The bill received 72 fewer votes than H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act, which fell just 20 votes short of passage last week.

The House of Representatives will vote on two immigration bills on Thursday -- H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act, and H.R. 6136, the Goodlatte-Ryan-Denham amnesty plan. NumbersUSA told House Members on Wednesday that it will score in favor of a vote for H.R. 4760 and score against a vote for the Goodlatte-Ryan-Denham amnesty plan.

U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Texas and six other states that challenges the legality of the DACA amnesty program. The one-sentence order rejected the motion to dismiss, which was filed Tuesday by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), under the assertion that the court should either throw out the lawsuit case, put it on hold or transfer it to California.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s (R-Va.) H.R. 4760 will get a floor vote at some point during the week of June 17th. Chairman Goodlatte has been negotiating changes in the bill to drum up more support, but is still short of the 218 votes needed for passage. A vote on H.R. 4760 would kill the effort to establish votes on four immigration measures through a discharge petition for H.Res. 774.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) are resisting Rep. Carlos Curbelo's (R-Fla.) decision to file a Discharge Petition for Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) resolution (H.Res. 774) yesterday, which could force a vote in the House on DACA amnesty legislation.

A third federal judge has ruled illegal the Trump Administration’s rescission of the DACA program. But unlike other judges, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge John Bates ruled the Department of Homeland Security must start accepting new DACA applications within 90 days if it cannot adequately justify termination. The ruling, however, may have helped the Administration by laying out what that justification might entail.

DHS Press Sec. Tyler Houlton announced that the agency will not arrest current DACA recipients with pending renewal applications or those with expired protections. Additionally, USCIS will continue to accept new renewal applications.

According to The Washington Times, the Trump Admin. said on Monday that it fully supports Rep. Bob Goodlatte's H.R. 4760, the Securing America's Future Act, and encouraged House leadership to pass the legislation in an effort to put pressure on the Senate.

The Senate voted down all four immigration amendments on Thursday, effectively ending the DACA debate, for now, in the chamber. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced after the debate that the Senate would move on to other business.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) will offer the Secure and Succeed Act that would largely reflect the White House proposal to deal with DACA. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) will cosponsor the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has endorsed it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced yesterday that he'll open up the Senate floor next week for a debate over DACA. The move keeps the promise he made to Democratic Leaders last month as part of a deal to end the government shutdown. Sen. McConnell pledged to hold an open floor debate if no DACA deal had been reached by Feb. 8 and Democrats agreed to keep the government funded beyond the Feb. 8 deadline.

Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and David Perdue (R-Ga.) released a statement today opposing the “Gang of 6” proposal which fails to address any of Pres. Trump’s immigration policy priorities. The proposal, presented by Sens. Durbin (D-Ill.), Flake (R-Ariz.), and Graham (R-S.C.) would not strengthen border security or interior enforcement, fails to end Chain Migration and the Visa Lottery, and would grant amnesty, not only to previous DACA recipients, but to all Dreamers and their parents as well.

USCIS announced in a statement Saturday that it would resume the Obama DACA amnesty program after a California Judge issued a nationwide injunction on Tuesday ordering that the program be continued.

The Trump Administration saw the number of attempted illegal border crossings drastically drop by 40 percent in just one year. According to the DHS report released Tuesday on final border apprehension numbers for calendar year 2017, the Obama Administration oversaw 614,739 border arrests in its last year, compared to only 351,084 arrests in Pres. Trump’s first year.

Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) did not attend Wednesday’s hour-long meeting held by a bipartisan group of pro-amnesty Senators that has been collaborating on Dream amnesty legislation. The group, led by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), had been working on legislation that would pair a Dream amnesty with a few minor border improvements, failing to address any of Pres. Trump’s demands.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said today that an amnesty for DACA recipients would not be included in the year-end spending bill that Congress must pass by Dec. 22 to avoid a government shutdown. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been pushing for a permanent amnesty for illegal aliens who received Pres. Obama's unconstitutional DACA amnesty since the Trump Administration put it on hold back in September.