House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) isn’t running for reelection. Before he goes gently into the good Wisconsin night, however, this year the speaker can make one more legacy-defining move – one consistent with his 20-year commitment to fostering economic growth and business competitiveness.
He can start to fix our broken immigration system.
{mosads}Last week, 240 House members, led by Reps. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Will Hurd (R-Texas), joined together to try to force a debate in the House on measures to provide solutions for Dreamers.
If Ryan supports this effort, he could smooth passage for a deal to fund the border wall that is Trump’s signature issue in exchange for a path to citizenship for most or all of the “Dreamers,” the nearly 2 million young people first brought to the country illegally as children who are now working, getting or already have received their degree, or serving in the military. Nearly 700,000 of these Dreamers are now in legal limbo as the courts decide whether President Trump acted legally when he ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last fall.
The border/Dreamer deal makes sense for several reasons. First, the DACA-eligible population earns nearly $20 billion in income per year and pays more than $3 billion in taxes. Keeping those earners in their jobs and here in America is good for the bottom line.
Politically, too, the border/Dreamer deal is as good – and as safe – as it gets.
That fact might get lost amid all the chatter about Trump’s base getting fed up and revolting over immigration, but it’s true. At the behest of New American Economy, one of the country’s leading Republican pollsters recently conducted a survey that showed the breadth and depth of Republican and conservative voter support for a border/Dreamer deal.
Start with a couple key voting blocs increasingly vital to the Party of Ryan’s prospects. Among Republicans and conservatives, young people (79 percent) and college-educated women (82 percent) support a deal. It’s especially worth noting that three-quarters of white working-class men – the bloc Trump supposedly is trying to woo with his recent rhetoric – support the deal, too. They want to secure the border, but not at the cost of deporting Dreamers and wrecking lives and careers. Overall, in fact, 86 percent of Trump base voters back a border/Dreamer deal.
Looking at those kinds of numbers, and up against major political headwinds, several House Republicans already see a low-risk, high-reward proposition. Last month Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) introduced a “discharge petition” to force a House vote on extending protections for Dreamers for three years. Denham, saying “the gridlock simply cannot continue,” invoked the House’s “queen-of-the-hill” rule in an effort to bring four immigration reform bills directly to the floor for a vote.
Coffman’s and Denham’s moves both face long odds, but the signal they’re sending is clear. They’re ready to get creative and deliver an immigration fix. But they need their leader to lead.
So here’s what Ryan can do, before the clock runs out on his speakership. It’s quite simple. He can bring a bill to protect Dreamers in exchange for border security up for a vote. And he can burnish his legacy in the bargain, at the same time he makes good on his past promises to Dreamers.
A win on immigration – and the real progress Paul Ryan has championed for years – sits on the table, there for the taking. The Speaker should seize the opportunity, for the good of his party and the country.
Jeremy Robbins is executive director of New American Economy, a coalition of Republican, Democratic and independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reform. Follow him on Twitter: @JeremyARobbins