House Democratic leaders have backed away from a major clash with their centrist wing over immigration, agreeing to winnow down a sweeping bill that would have overhauled Trump's migrant detention policies.
Top Democrats are pushing hard for a vote on the more narrow version this week, attempting a balancing act as they aim to quell a moderate rebellion without losing the caucus’s left wing progressives.
But a floor vote remains unclear and talks are ongoing, as Democrats attempt to salvage their efforts to pass a major bill dealing with the migrant crisis before August recess.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) announced during a closed-door meeting Thursday that she had agreed to key changes to her border bill, reverting to a more narrow version, though she has not yet detailed those tweaks.
"We made changes last night," Escobar confirmed after the meeting, adding that the new legislation is expected later Thursday. "In the meantime, I'm talking to my colleagues, hoping to have resolved concerned."
"It was a bit ambitious," Escobar said, adding that she plans to renew her push for the rest of the legislation this fall.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her deputies have been negotiating with Escobar, moderates, and now progressives to find a path forward for the legislation, which was aimed at overhauling the Trump administration’s migrant detention policies.
A group of centrists, including leaders of the Blue Dog Coalition and vulnerable freshmen, have urged leadership to punt the bill this week entirely, arguing the bill went too far for them to support and there wasn't enough time to negotiate changes.
"I know there are a lot of people who have questions about it," said Rep. Tom O'Halleran, a co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition. The Arizona Democrat said he had concerns with multiple parts of the bill, including whether a police officer could personally be sued over their role in separating families.
One senior aide described the earlier bill as "full of political landmines," with policy changes that were not fully vetted.
Some moderates also complained about a drastic change to the Department of Homeland Security's "catch and release" policy, which bans the department from detaining migrants for more than 72 hours. Some Democrats fear it could result in more people being released into border communities, according to lawmakers and aides involved in the discussions.
Democratic leaders, including Pelosi, have sought to put the Escobar bill on the floor this week as a response to dozens of lawmakers’ recent visits to detention centers, where they encountered overcrowded facilities, a lack of resources and a poor commitment to transparency.
“We’re still working on it. We’ll see about whether that can come to the floor,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Wednesday evening when asked about the status of the bill. He confirmed Thursday that negotiations were still ongoing.
"I think there were some concerns about the impact to the flow at the border," he said.
Escobar’s broader bill would have marked the House Democratic caucus's strongest legislation to date in response to the migrant crisis. Most of it is widely endorsed throughout the caucus — cracking down on family separations, stepping up training and performance reviews for border agents and creating sweeping new oversight over DHS.
Escobar, for her part, had sought to bring more members on board with her bill in part by dispelling myths, like the falsehood that migrants would receive Obamacare coverage before they receive asylum.
House Democrats also approved a border bill Wednesday night that would set humanitarian standards for migrants in U.S. detention, authored by Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.).
But the vote once again exposed the Democratic party's struggle to unite behind immigration issues: Dozens of Democrats bucked their leadership to support a GOP procedural vote, delivering Republicans another talking points and undercutting the caucus's win.
Another contentious provision in Escobar's bill would also repeal a key policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, which requires migrants to be sent to Mexico as they await asylum proceedings in the U.S. — which would mark a drastic change in current border processing.
Some have also complained that the policy to create a vague definition of families who would receive protection, specifically questioning the category of “a step-family member", which some members saw as hard to enforce.
John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle contributed reporting.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine