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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 16 February 2018
Senate rejects bipartisan immigration plan and Trump's, too

By ALAN FRAM bers of Hispanic voters. gerous policy that will harm proposal. Besides helping U.S. The compromise bill
KEVIN FREKING Top Democrats had held the nation." It singled out a Dreamers achieve citizen- would have left that lottery
WASHINGTON (AP) — The out faint hopes that the provision that directed the ship, the president's mea- intact but barred Dreamers
Senate rejected both a bi- bipartisan package would government to prioritize en- sure would have provided who obtain citizenship from
partisan immigration plan sponsoring their parents.
and a more restrictive pro- "Dreamers" are immigrants
posal by President Donald brought to the U.S. illegally
Trump on Thursday, sug- as children who risk de-
gesting the latest election- portation because they
year debate on an issue lack permanent authori-
that fires up both parties' zation to stay. Trump an-
voters will produce a famil- nulled the Deferred Ac-
iar outcome: stalemate. tion for Childhood Arrivals
Facing a White House veto program, or DACA, that
threat and opposition from President Barack Obama
the Senate's GOP leaders, created that’s protected
the chamber derailed a the Dreamers. He’s given
plan by bipartisan senators Congress until March 5
that would have helped to restore the program,
1.8 million young immigrant though federal courts have
"Dreamers" achieve citi- blocked him temporarily
zenship. It also would have from dismantling it.
doled out $25 billion for Senate leaders opened
Trump's coveted wall with the day’s debate by trad-
Mexico and for other bor- ing blame. Senate Majority
der security measures, but Leader Mitch McConnell,
it didn't go as far as Trump R-Ky., assailed Democrats
wanted in curbing legal im- for failing to offer “a single
migration. From left, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and proposal that gives us a
It lost 54-45, six short of the Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., finish a news conference on the bipartisan immigration deal they realistic chance to make
60 votes that were needed reached during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. The law.” Instead, he said,
Trump administration is already denouncing their deal in the Senate, saying it will "create a mass
for passage. That scuttled amnesty for over 10 million illegal aliens, including criminals." Democrats should back
what had seemed the like- (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Trump’s “extremely gen-
liest chance for sweeping erous” proposal. Instead,
immigration legislation to Democratic leaders rallied
make it through the Senate prevail, or at least force forcement efforts against wall funding in one burst, behind the bipartisan plan.
this year. Trump to negotiate fur- immigrants who arrive il- rather than doling it out Eight Republicans joined
Trump's own plan fared ther. But he proved unwill- legally beginning in July. over 10 years as the biparti- most Democrats in back-
even worse as 60 senators ing to fold on his demands Trump and GOP leaders san plan proposed. ing that compromise, while
voted no and just 39 vot- for a tougher bill, reflecting said he'd already shown In addition, Trump's bill three Democrats joined
ed for it — 21 shy of the 60 the hard-line immigration flexibility by offering a 10- to would have prevented le- most GOP senators in op-
needed. The embarrassing stance that was a corner- 12-year path to citizenship gal immigrants from spon- posing it. But it didn’t offer a
outcome for the president stone of his 2016 presiden- for so many Dreamers, a soring parents and siblings special citizenship pathway
underscored the feelings tial run. In a written state- key demand for Democrats for citizenship and would for Dreamers, raise bor-
of Republicans concerned ment earlier Thursday, the and some Republicans. have ended a visa lottery der security funds or make
about election damage in White House labeled the Minutes later, the cham- aimed at allowing more sweeping changes in legal
swing states with high num- bipartisan proposal "dan- ber voted against Trump's diverse immigrants into the immigration rules.q

New maps sent to court in Pennsylvania gerrymandering case

By MARC LEVY cratic voters who sued suc- nation's most gerryman- the congressional bound- would unconstitutionally
Associated Press cessfully to invalidate the dered. Upending it could aries or draw new ones. usurp the role of the gover-
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — current map planned to boost Democrats national- The court will be advised by nor and Legislature.
New proposals to redraw submit a map and Demo- ly in their quest to capture Stanford University law pro- In drawing it, Republicans
Pennsylvania's congressio- cratic Gov. Tom Wolf may control of the U.S. House fessor Nathan Persily, who broke decades of prec-
nal districts rolled in Thurs- also. Each can submit as and dramatically change has assisted judges draw- edent and created bi-
day in a high-stakes gerry- many suggested maps as the state's predominantly ing districts in North Caroli- zarrely shaped districts in
mandering case, meeting they like. Republican, all-male del- na, New York, Connecticut, what Franklin and Marshall
a court-ordered deadline The midnight deadline egation. Meanwhile, sitting Georgia and Maryland. College political scientist
to submit maps of bound- gives justices four more congressmen, dozens of The justices could pick a G. Terry Madonna called
aries for the state Supreme days to impose new bound- would-be candidates and submitted map, or rely on “the worst gerrymander in
Court to consider adopting aries under a timeline the millions of voters could find Persily to draw one. modern Pennsylvania his-
for this year's election. divided court set to keep themselves in different dis- Pennsylvania's Republican tory.” The court threw it out
Pennsylvania's House Dem- May's primary election on tricts. Senate majority leader, last month, saying it uncon-
ocrats and Senate Demo- schedule. Republican lawmakers say Jake Corman, on Thursday stitutionally put partisan
crats each submitted a Pennsylvania's congres- they will swiftly ask feder- warned anew that the tight interests above other line-
plan Thursday, as did a sional map — drawn by al judges to block a new timeline would create cha- drawing criteria, such as
group of Republican activ- Republicans to get Repub- map, and contend that the os in Pennsylvania's con- eliminating municipal and
ists who intervened in the licans elected — is widely Democratic-majority court gressional primaries, and county divisions and keep-
case. The registered Demo- viewed as among the had no power to invalidate the court-ordered process ing districts compact.q