A group of House Republicans has joined their Democratic colleagues in trying to force a vote on bills intended to help the Dreamers — the group of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children who have been the focus of so much political drama.
At least 15 Republicans in Congress have signed a petition that would force a vote on four immigration bills that House Speaker Paul Ryan has worked hard to suppress, according to the Los Angeles Times. If every Democrat in the chamber also signs the petition, as some of its supporters expect, it would be extremely close to success, since at least 18 Republican supporters would be necessary to compel a vote on the immigration reform measures. Forcing a vote on legislation through this method is often called a "Queen of the Hill" vote.
According to the website of the Clerk of the House of Representatives as of Wednesday night, 15 Republicans have already crossed that threshold, meaning that just three more would be required -- assuming that all 193 current Democratic members also sign. (There are also seven vacant seats in the House.)
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif, is the leader of the Republican faction fighting to bring about some kind of resolution for Dreamers. As a Republican from a heavily Latino district in central California, Denham is in an unenviable political position: He needs to avoid being viewed as overly hostile to undocumented Mexican immigrants while serving a party whose president was elected in large part because of his racially charged anti-immigrant rhetoric. Denham was narrowly re-elected in 2016, while Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump by three percentage points in his district; he is viewed as one of several highly vulnerable California Republicans in this year's midterms.
Not surprisingly, Denham has called for passage of a bill to help the Dreamers ever since the issue reached a stalemate.
"I would hope that after we get to 218 [the number needed to force a vote] that leadership will realize that a vote is imminent, and we bring it to the floor immediately. When you get to 218, it shows the will of Congress, and we expect to be well beyond that," Denham told the Los Angeles Times in April.
When the prospect of a forced vote on Dreamers was mentioned to House Speaker Paul Ryan at that time, Ryan opposed the idea on the grounds that Trump would never approve any such bill.
"I don't want to spend our time bringing something through that I know is going to get vetoed," Ryan told reporters in April.
If Denham's discharge petition is successful, Ryan will have no choice. A successful "Queen of the Hill" maneuver would force Congress to come to some decision on the Dreamers — or to demonstrate itself unable to reach any decision — by June 25. According to congressional rules, a "Queen of the Hill" measure requires the legislation in question to be addressed by the House of on either the first or third Monday of the next month when that body convenes.
"The speaker can still bring up a bill any time he wants, but if he doesn't, June 25 is coming," Denham said regarding the filed petition.
Denham also pointed out that he and his colleagues acted as they did because "the president gave us a deadline, and Congress failed to meet that deadline without even a debate."
He refers to the fact that, when Trump announced last fall that he would end President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (or DACA) program, which offered temporary work permits and deportation relief to undocumented immigrants who came here as children, he told Congress to come up with a permanent replacement by March 5. Because a federal judge has temporarily halted the shutdown of the DACA program, and the Supreme Court has refused to expedite the case to allow Trump to implement his own policies, the fate of DACA recipients will remain in the air, unless a meaningful bill is soon passed to address the issue.
Even as Denham takes the lead as a Republican speaking out about America's 700,000 Dreamers (perhaps out of self-interest), other Republicans are trying to move their party in the opposite direction. Texas has joined six other states in a lawsuit against the administration, seeking to end the DACA program on the grounds that it is illegal, according to Reuters. The other states who have signed on, like Texas, all have Republican governors and overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 election: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina and West Virginia.
In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton explained that "our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy. Texas has argued for years that the federal executive branch lacks the power to unilaterally grant unlawfully present aliens lawful presence and work authorization."
Although Trump has on various occasions expressed sympathy for the Dreamers, he has also taken a more hostile tone toward their plight, as in his mockery of the term during his State of the Union address in January. After telling Congress that "Americans are dreamers, too," Trump went on to argue that "I am extending an open hand to work with the members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed. My duty and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber is to defend Americans, to protect their safety, their families, their communities and their right to the American dream."
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