Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC) made it clear yesterday that there will be no deal on amnesty for so-called DREAMers in the spending bill that needs to pass Congress later this month. He said there will be no “last minute scenario” that only deals with amnesty for DACA recipients. “If you deal with those 600,000 individuals without changing the fundamental reason why they are here…we’ll just be dealing with it again,” he said.
The statement seems to make clear that any threat by Democrats to shut the government down over the issue will be met by a similarly firm stance from Republicans. Meadows said that there will be no deal on amnesty for DACA recipients without addressing three main parts of immigration policy: the building of a wall along the southern border, an end to chain migration and the elimination of the visa lottery system. Meadows called those three parts “critically important” to any deal on immigration, as far as Republicans were concerned.
Mark Meadows is chairman of the House Freedom of Caucus, a group of about 40 Republican Congressmen and women that have conservative views and often vote as a bloc. It’s virtually impossible for Republicans to pass anything in the House, without Democratic support, if the House Freedom Caucus does not support it.