Finding a compromise between the Republican and Democratic parties on the issue of immigration will not be easy, according to Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer. Schumer, who made the comments during the McConnell Center Distinguished Speakers Series, held at the University of Louisville on Monday, said that both parties are, however, determined to try because of the seriousness of the issues at stake.
Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who the Center was named after, introduced Schumer, the two having previously agreed on a deal that included deferred action legislation to end the stalemate that resulted in the three-day US government shut-down last month.
With the debate on immigration kicking off this week in the Senate, McConnell has promised that it will be free-flowing and bipartisan, and to ensure the process will be fair to both sides of the debate. Congress has until 5 March to address the issue of Dreamers, the young undocumented immigrants brought to the US as minors who had been protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which is being closed down by the Trump administration.
Republicans and Democrats are struggling to come up with a solution to the issue. President Donald Trump says he will sign off on legislation to protect them only if it also includes ending the diversity US visa program, providing funding for a wall on the border between Mexico and the US, and changing family-based immigration policies.