Hispanic Caucus members in the House struggled on Thursday to convince lawmakers not to vote for a year-end spending bill which would postpone a fix for young undocumented immigrants until mid-January.
A group of 15 Hispanic Democrats lobbied Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for support on a fix for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The group led by Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham called on Schumer to press Senate Democrats to vote against a continuing resolution to fund the government unless it incorporated protections for Dreamers.
“What we stressed to the senator was that we need more senators voting with us. That means … that they vote against any of the must-pass legislation, including the CR, and they stand with the House on making clear what our priorities are,” Lujan Grisham said.
The Hill reports that the House passed a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown early on Thursday, while the Senate is expected to do the same a bit later.
Earlier in September, President Donald Trump announced that he would repeal the DACA program which allows almost 700,000 immigrants to get work permits and live legally in the U.S.
According to Lujan Grisham, they did not receive guarantee from Schumer that enough Democrats would vote against defeating it, but that the Hispanic Caucus was “growing the support to make sure that the issues that we care about get addressed.”
Representative Luis Gutiérrez, the head of the CHC’s immigration task force, said the meeting with Schumer was successful.
“We came over here to galvanize support for our Dreamers, and we got that. There are more Democratic senators than there were before the meeting, and I believe it is going to grow till the moment of the vote,” he said.
Schumer said he understood the concerns of the CHC and added they were doing everything in their power “to get the Dream Act done.” A number of Democratic senators have promised to vote against any spending bill that doesn’t include legal protections for Dreamers, but the bill is nonetheless expected to pass easily.
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