Where does immigration legislation stand?
Republicans are so far at a loss on how to find a legislative fix to the country's outstanding immigration problems, and to resolve issues in the administration's "zero tolerance" policy, after last week's failure in the House and a sudden delay brought on by GOP uncertainty.
The more conservative of two GOP proposals failed on Thursday and a vote on the more moderate "compromise bill" was pushed off, at first until Friday and then again to sometime this week. The latter measure includes provisions to address family separation, a fix for DACA (Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals), a merit-based visa system and additional funds for border security and funding for President Trump's long-sought border wall.
So, here's where things stand as Republicans in Congress renew their efforts to write an immigration bill that will both attract Democratic support in the Senate and satisfy President Trump.
The compromise bill
CBS News' Ed O'Keefe reports that the GOP compromise bill, pushed by Republican leadership and the president all last week, is expected to fail, according to congressional aides and members. The bill itself, which has been twice delayed, will get a vote in the House this week and will include legislation that would address a gap in the president's executive order signed last week to keep detained families together at the U.S. border. A 1997 legal ruling mandates that detained migrant children cannot be held in government detention facilities for more than 20 days.
A senior GOP aide tells CBS News that House Republicans are discussing the timing of the vote on the compromise bill, but there is no agreed-upon plan yet. CBS News' Rebecca Kaplan says that Hill aides and members of the leadership, including Speaker Paul Ryan, have not talked openly about what happens if the compromise bill fails. Ryan told reporters on Thursday that House members would "cross that bridge if we get to it."
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Monday that a vote on the compromise bill would be Wednesday.
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-California, who is working with conservative members to negotiate adding provisions on e-verify and agricultural visas, said talks are going well, and the progress will be discussed at the GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning. "We want to see how many votes it gets us," he said.
But Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, offered a frank -- and negative -- assessment of the progress on rounding up votes for the compromise bill.
"Given the nature of DACA it is very challenging for Republicans to come up with a solution on their own," he said. "Last year we passed wall funding. Last year we passed enforcement. We can do that again but we also know that to clear through the Senate we're going to have to have a DACA resolution as well in order to get Democrats on board with the compromise so we have border security."
He said a full throated endorsement from the president would be helpful, but "the feedback that we've gotten is the president's expectation is that this is not the time that we can actually get immigration across the floor and to his desk because we don't have any participation from Democrats on working out a compromise on DACA."
Family separation fixes
In both the House and Senate, lawmakers are working on various bills that would try to sort out how to keep families detained beyond the 20-day period. Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-California, are expected to meet again on Monday about a potential bipartisan compromise. House Republicans have included a fix to keep families detained together in DHS custody and provide more resources for family detention centers in their broader immigration bill.
Meanwhile, GOP House leaders are actively discussing a "narrow" bill that contains a fix to the Flores problem. They still intend to hold a vote on the "compromise" immigration bill first, and the timing and contours of the more narrow bill have not been worked out.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told O'Keefe at last week's press conference that he wants to take up a narrow bill soon.
CBS News' Ed O'Keefe, Rebecca Kaplan and Nancy Cordes contributed to this report.
