Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to put an end to any notion he would bend to Democratic demands to include amnesty for illegal immigrants in the must-pass year-end spending bill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not be doing [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] DACA this week,\u201d he told Fox News on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan may have closed the door on amnesty being attached to the must-pass omnibus spending bill, but reports are that a backroom deal is in the works.<\/p>\n
According to Politico<\/em><\/a>, during a meeting with a dozen senators who support rewarding beneficiaries of DACA with permanent legal status White House Chief of Staff John Kelly \u201cpledged that the administration will soon present a list of border security and other policy changes it wants as part of a broader deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a leading proponent of the so-called DREAM Act who attended the meeting said if DACA is not addressed this week, \u201cwe have another chance to finally come up with a bipartisan package of things to include” by mid-January.<\/p>\n Sen. Jeff Flake, the Arizona Republican who announced his retirement in October, echoed Durbin in a Tuesday evening tweet<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cBipartisan #DACA<\/a> bill will be on the Senate floor in January.<\/p>\n With the possibility of a bargain being struck, open border groups are certain to escalate the media and public relations campaign in an effort to garner attention and sympathy.<\/p>\n On Monday, billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer launched $100,000 nationwide digital ad campaign urging voters to call Congress and demand they pass the DREAM Act. He spent another $100,000 on a similar effort targeting wavering lawmakers in seven states, including Arizona and Virginia.<\/p>\n As FAIR\u2019s Joe Gomez reported<\/a> some illegal immigrants carried out plans to get arrested by holding sit-ins on Capitol Hill and not complying with law enforcement. There were hunger strikes in Alabama<\/a> and demonstrations at district offices<\/a> of members of the House and Senate.<\/p>\n In San Diego, the defenders of DACA established a \u201crapid response network\u201d to respond after immigration enforcement actions and to verify what one report<\/a> described as \u201crumored immigration enforcement activity.\u201d<\/p>\n The special interests have made clear their goal \u2013 to gain passage of the DREAM Act, measure that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts<\/a> would explode the federal budget deficit by $26 billion over the next decade.<\/p>\n With the December 22 deadline to fund the government looming and screaming protestors sitting in their offices, there is no guarantee the Congress will not crumble under the pressure of a well-financed and organized amnesty army.