[W]ASHINGTON — The deadline President Donald Trump set for lawmakers to act to extend a program that provides work permits and deportation protections for undocumented immigrants who arrived as children passed Monday.
Recipients of the deferred action for childhood arrivals, or DACA, program, retain protected status for the time being because of two court decisions that temporarily block the administration’s order from taking effect.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation remain supportive of the program and indicated this week they would like to see it extended.
Through the course of a weeklong debate in February, the Senate considered multiple proposals that would extend DACA and take other immigration-related steps, including providing funding for a wall along the Mexican border that was one of Trump’s key campaign promises.
They also considered a proposal Trump has put forward that would link DACA to a suite of immigration policy reforms unpopular with Democrats.
No proposal reached the 60-vote threshold.
Trump tweeted Monday that Democrats “are nowhere to be found” on the program.
“We are ready to make a deal!” he wrote.
It’s March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care. Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018
Will Lambek, spokesperson for Migrant Justice in Vermont, said that it was interesting that the March 5 deadline was “passing without a whimper.”
There is no imminent impact on the group’s members who have DACA status because of the court decision. All of those members of the group are registered so that they would be protected beyond the deadline anyways, he said.
“This isn’t an issue that should be left up to the courts,” he said. “This is a crisis of President Trump’s making and it’s shameful that Congress has abdicated on their responsibility to pass a policy that nearly everyone in the United State agrees should exist.”
Protesters descended on Capitol Hill Monday, calling on lawmakers to act. Wearing painted monarch butterfly wings and chanting into megaphones, they blocked Independence Avenue — a major traffic artery between the Capitol building and the House office buildings. According to police, 87 people were arrested.
On Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a strong supporter of DACA, moved to pass a measure that would extend the program for three years and authorize three years of funding for a border wall. However, that motion was blocked by another Republican senator.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is confident that if the House were to vote on legislation to extend the program it would pass. However, he says House Speaker Paul Ryan is holding it up.
“There’s a real simple way for Congress to act: for Paul Ryan to let us vote,” Welch said Tuesday. “This is not a big complicated swirl.”
Welch said he believes it is “cruel and heartless” to link the DACA program to other immigration issues.
David Carle, spokesperson for Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the senator continues to support DACA.
“The President created this artificial March 5th deadline, and ever since he has held Dreamers hostage to his wish list of far-right restrictions on legal immigration,” Carle said.
According to Carle, Leahy believes “there is no reason” that a bill that includes DACA and some funding for border security could not pass on it’s own.
Leahy is currently in the process of negotiating an omnibus spending package. There has been speculation that a DACA fix would be included in that bill.
“He generally does not talk about negotiations while they are ongoing, but finding a solution to DACA remains a priority of his and of the Democratic Caucus, and he’ll keep working to find a path forward,” Carle said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., declined to comment about DACA as he walked through the Capitol basement en route to a vote in the Senate chamber. The Senate is considering a bill that would reform banking regulations this week, which Sanders opposes.
“Today I am focusing on Wall Street,” he said, referring comment on the immigration program until later.
A spokesperson did not return requests for comment Tuesday. However, Sanders responded to a post Trump made on Twitter Monday.
Remember:
➡️ Trump revoked DACA in September
➡️ Republicans control the House, Senate and White House
➡️ Trump killed a bipartisan deal to protect Dreamers
We must stand with Dreamers to stop Trump from throwing them out of the only country they’ve ever known. #DreamActNow https://t.co/MJ9lsHglwM— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 5, 2018
