An estimated 690,000 of these young immigrants, known as Dreamers, are protected from deportation by an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, and about 1.1 million more are eligible. But Mr. Trump has rescinded the initiative, which is set to expire March 5.
Mr. Trump had said the White House-backed measure was the only one he would sign. Mr. Grassley grew emotional with reporters on Wednesday as he appealed to Democrats to support it.
“Here’s an opportunity to do something,” Mr. Grassley told reporters on Wednesday. “We shouldn’t miss this opportunity. We’ve got something that ought to get bipartisan support in the Senate. It’s got the best chance of getting through the House of Representatives and it’s the only one that you hear talked about that the president will sign.”
The White House had worked vigorously to bring down every other approach. In a conference call with reporters just before voting began, a senior White House official lashed out at Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, a key sponsor of an alternative measure. Speaking only on condition of anonymity despite repeated requests to be on the record, the official accused Mr. Graham of attacking Homeland Security officials and standing in the way of needed immigration changes.
“Senator Graham has been an obstacle for those reforms,” the official said. He accused Mr. Graham of misleading other senators, including Democrats, about the damage the proposal will do. He said that Democrats should not let “Lindsey Graham dictate what Democrat senators ought to do.”
On Capitol Hill, Mr. Graham punched back at Stephen Miller, a top White House aide and immigration hard-liner. “As long as the president allows Steve Miller and others to run the show down there, we’re never going to get anywhere,” he said.
The comments by the White House official followed a series of extraordinary actions to try to defeat Mr. Graham’s bipartisan measure. A fact sheet issued by the Department of Homeland Security assailed the proposal, injecting the enforcement agency into the middle of a partisan legislative fight.
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