Washington Feb 13 (IANS) With the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants in the balance the US Senate has begun an open-ended debate on immigration the media reports said.
This is an exceedingly rare step that in effect will allow senators to attempt to build a bill on immigration from scratch on the floor of the House Efe news reported.
The highly unusual debate expected to unfold throughout the week will test whether a series of legislative concepts and proposals championed by President Donald Trump can garner 60 votes the threshold for a measure to pass the Senate the New york Times said.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised Democrats the discussion in exchange for their willingness to end a government shutdown.
The Democrats had forced the shutdown in hopes of getting Republicans to approve a permanent solution for beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
The push on immigration comes against the backdrop of a ticking clock and months of congressional inaction.
Launched in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama DACA has protected some 700 000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation.
In September 2017 Trump announced that he would end DACA on March 5 2018 and urged Congress to pass legislation to regularise the situation of the beneficiaries known as "Dreamers".
Trump has put forward an immigration plan that includes a path to citizenship for roughly 1.8 million undocumented young people while simultaneously demanding $25 billion to build his proposed wall on the Mexican border.
Trump has made it clear that he will not sign legislation that doesn t include money for the wall and limit family migration.
The President s proposal would also place significant new limits to legal immigration by restricting the issuance of family-reunification visas and eliminating the visa lottery.
While seven Senate Republicans have written a draft incorporating Trump s priorities Democrats - and some GOP moderates - are adamantly opposed to the White House position.
With the Senate divided 51-49 between Republicans and Democrats no bill can gain the necessary 60 votes without bipartisan support.
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