The Senate’s Parliamentarian ruled that a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants cannot be included in a $3.5 trillion budget package, but Democrats and immigrant advocates vowed that the fight is not over.

What You Need To Know

  • Democrats and immigration advocates vowed to not to give up the fight after the Senate's Parliamentarian ruled that a pathway to citizenship for immigrants can't be placed in a $3.5 trillion budget measure championed by President Joe Biden

  • The rejected provisions would have opened multiyear doorways to legal permanent residence, and possibly citizenship, for young immigrants brought illegally to the country as children, often called “Dreamers," and included immigrants with Temporary Protected Status, essential workers and farm workers

  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday that he is “working closely” with other Democrats in the chamber to help immigrants obtain permanent residence in the U.S. and pursue alternative measures

  • Immigration advocates in the U.S. also vowed to press on, with one top advocacy group official saying: “We are not prepared to take no for an answer”

The rejected provisions would have opened multiyear doorways to legal permanent residence – and possibly citizenship – for young immigrants brought illegally to the country as children, often called “Dreamers.” Also included would be immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who have fled countries stricken by natural disasters or extreme violence, essential workers and farm workers.

The Parliamentarian’s ruling comes at a time when Democratic leaders will need virtually every vote in Congress from their party to approve a 10-year, $3.5 trillion bill that includes President Joe Biden’s top domestic goals, including funding for major climate initiative and expansion of social safety net programs. Progressives and moderates in the caucus are currently at odds over the size of the bill, which includes funding for universal pre-Kindergarten and free community college, and would be funded largely by increased taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell praised the Parliamentarian's decision, saying that "our Democratic colleagues cannot pretend that massive transformational policy changes are mere budgetary tweaks."

The Senate's Parliamentarian is a nonpartisan, unelected individual who interprets the rules of the chamber. The current Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who is the first woman to serve in the role, was most recently in the national spotlight for not allowing Democrats to add an increase to the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in their $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill earlier this year.

On Monday, Senate Democrats made clear that they will not let the Parliamentarian’s decision stand unchallenged, pleding to move ahead with further plans to enact immigration reform.

"I still believe this is the year when we can finally accomplish bold, inclusive, and humane immigration reform for millions, and I won’t stop fighting until we do just that. The immigrant community has waited too long and worked too hard for the good of the country, and I won’t take no for an answer," New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said in a statement in the wake of the Parliamentarian's decision.

In his floor remarks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he is “working closely” with other Democrats in the chamber to help immigrants obtain permanent residence in the United States.

“Last night's ruling was extremely disappointing,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate Monday. “It saddened me. It frustrated me. It angered me. But make no mistake, the fight continues.”

Senate Democrats have prepared “alternative proposals” to the rejected budget provision, Schumer added, and will be holding additional meetings with the Parliamentarian in the coming days.

Immigration advocates reacted to the ruling with disappointment, but also said they would not be deterred.  

“We’ve said from the very beginning that this is a process," Anu Joshi, vice president of policy at the New York Immigration Coalition, told Spectrum News. "This is not a one-off, we’re still near the beginning."

The Coalition has been working “closely” with leaders in Congress, she said, adding: “We are not prepared to take no for an answer.”

Their message to Senate Democrats, including Schumer, “is [that] immigrants and their families turned out in the last election,” Joshi said. “And they didn't turn out to get you elected — they turned out because you said that you were going to fight for their families.”

“And so you need to do whatever you need to do to bring this home; whether that's overruling the parliamentarian, whether that's ending the filibuster, whether that's something else. Like, you’ve got to do it, this is it," she added. “This is where the rubber hits the road."

Some Democrats agree, including Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, a leading progressive voice in the caucus, who wrote in a Twitter post that the ruling "is only a recommendation" and encouraged Schumer and the White House to "ignore it."

"We can’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to do the right thing," Omar continued.

But Democrats are largely rejecting calls to overrule the Parliamentarian.

"I don't believe that's realistic," Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Monday. "I think the votes needed on the floor are not there."

"While I understand the passion and I understand the sentiment behind it, I think it’s not necessarily constructive at this point," Menendez said during a call with reporters Monday, despite a pledge that Democrats will "continue to fight on."

Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., told Spectrum News his district is home to between five and ten thousands Dreamers.

For those people, he said, “hope should not disappear."

"I congratulate dreamers and TPS recipients, social workers and farm workers, because they do so much for our nation," he continued. "So they should not give up. We will continue to fight together."

Asked whether Republicans would ever agree to go along with a pathway to citizenship outside of reconciliation, Espaillat said, “I think that they should."

"Certainly, you will see that in their districts, this resonates well," he said. "Dreamers poll extremely well in red districts. And I think that they should continue to consider this.”