Sen. Susan Collins on Thursday offered to remove a four-month grace period for new border jumpers contained in the bipartisan immigration bill, acknowledging that prioritizing enforcement of those entering the country after June 30 created “confusion.”
It was the first major concession from the 16-member bipartisan group who said their bill was the only one that could pass the Senate, even as they bucked a veto threat from President Trump.
“We’re going to clarify [on the floor] that we are willing to move the date back,” said Mrs. Collins, the Maine Republican who led the group.
In the next breath, she accused the administration of “spreading a lot of misinformation about the bill,” which she said made it harder to line up the 60 votes needed to pass the upper chamber.
The plan included startling language that appears to end most immigration law enforcement for anyone already in the U.S., and anyone who jumps the border in the next four months.
The bill reads: “In carrying out immigration enforcement activities, the secretary shall prioritize available immigration enforcement resources to aliens who … arrived in the United States after June 30, 2018.”
Originally, it said Jan. 1, 2018, but that part was struck out and the future date was penned in, suggesting the choice was deliberate.
Mrs. Collins’ offer would move the date back to Jan. 1.
She insisted the language would not have invited a surge of illegal immigrants by the June 30 deadline. She said it was actually a “deterrent” to future illegal immigration, warning prospective border jumpers that the U.S. would get serious about immigration enforcement after that date.
Responding to the veto threat, Mrs. Collins also said she was “personally very disappointed” by the administration’s objections to the bill, which included a projection that it would shield about 10 million illegal immigrants from enforcement action.
The White House fired back, with a senior official saying the proposal was so bad that the sponsors must have made a mistake. The senior official urged reporters to contact senators and ask if they would be withdrawing their names from the plan.
“We are officially asking the sponsors of the bill to withdraw their sponsorship, allowing for the possibility they were egregiously misinformed,” the senior official said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican in the group who often clashes with the president, said Mr. Trump’s leadership on immigration was being undermined by hardliners in the administration, including White House senior adviser Stephen Miller.
“Mr. President, you are being led down a path where we won’t get a result. Reject this kind of engagement with the Congress,” Mr. Graham said.
But the senior White House official, while declining to respond to attacks on Mr. Miller, said Mr. Graham was the problem.
“If you look at the history of failed immigration reform bills, at some point you have to ask yourself a question if … Lindsey Graham’s presence on those bills is part of the problem,” the official said.
The group’s bill would address two of the four pillars of the president’s immigration framework: Protect about 1.8 million Dreamers threatened with losing their deportation amnesty under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA; and provide $25 million for border security including a border wall.
The plan does not limit family-based chain migration or end the Diversity Visa Lottery, which were called for by Mr. Trump.
The bipartisan group includes eight Republicans, seven Democrats and an independent, Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. This is the only bill that has a chance to get through the U.S. Senate. This is the only bill with bipartisan support,” Mr. King said.
Mr. King and Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican, are the lead sponsors of the bill.
• David Sherfinski contributed to this article
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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