DACA program expiration date looms amid deadlock on the Hill

Mike Pence has called on the US Congress to reach an agreement on immigration reform and funding for an extension of the border wall with Mexico just days after lawmakers' latest attempt at reaching a deal fell through, leaving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program ever so close to expiring on 5 March.

In an interview on 19 February, Vice President Mike Pence said that border security was a priority and Congress needed to reach a deal on funding it "as soon as possible".

But on the other side of the aisle, Democrats on Capitol Hill were not only fighting to keep DACA alive, but also to block the White House's push for an assortment of other changes to the country's immigration laws, including limits on legal migration and the abolition of the so-called visa lottery.

Hence, the fate of funding for Trump's border wall - one of his key campaign promises - and that of DACA were now seemingly tied at the hip.

Against that backdrop, on 15 February the upper house of Congress shot down a White House proposal for $25bn of funds, alongside the elimination of legal US immigrants' ability to sponsor siblings, parents and adult children for green cards.

In particular, Trump was refusing to support bipartisan measures unless "this chain migration" was cut.

Despite his insistence, the proposed measure failed to garner the necessary support.

Also on Thursday House Speaker Paul Ryan had been adamant that only legislative proposals which enjoyed the full backing of President Trump should be discussed, while avoiding committing to bringing any proposals to the floor for a vote.

Following that vote, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said he was confident both sides would reach an agreement: "Democrats and Republicans are laboring to find a bill to protect the Dreamers and provide border security, and garner 60 votes. It won't be easy, but we are all going to try because of the issues at stake."

However, he blamed Trump for tweeting moments before the Senate voted on one of the bipartisan plans on Thursday, saying it would be a 'total catastrophe' that faced the threat of a veto.

"If he would stop torpedoing bipartisan efforts, a good bill would pass," Schumer said.

Highlighting the difficulty of reaching an agreement, talks had broken down a number of times over the previous two months, and in the course of just one hour on Thursday, four different proposals were voted down.

That deadlock on the Hill meant that roughly 800,000 'Dreamers', immigrant children who had been illegally brought into the country, could be deported after Donald Trump decided to end the DACA program last September.

Some of the proposals put forth by Republican Senators included giving Dreamers legal residency status, without citizenship, or granting them work permits for three years.

One small glimmer of hope was that the Supreme Court might allow the deadline for DACA to slip to June, allowing Congress more time to reach an agreement.

But Democrats like Adam Jentleson, who had worked for former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, weren't holding their breath.

"People need to be very clear in their minds that this issue is not going to get fixed as long as Republicans control Congress. This is just the way it is."