Paul Ryan Urges House GOP Members To Stop Fighting Over DACA Discharge Petition

House Speaker Paul Ryan is having trouble quelling infighting that has taken place among congressmen over the DACA program and other immigration issues.

Paul Ryan Tries To Stop House Fighting Over Immigration

The 48-year-old Republican from Wisconsin — who last month announced he would resign when his term finishes in January 2019 — urged House members to find common ground on pressing issues like the Barack Obama–era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the move to protect “Dreamers,” immigrant children who came to the U.S. as children. Many Democrats and moderate Republicans have reportedly grown frustrated because no laws have yet been introduced to help avoid the deportation of the Dreamers.

“If we run an amnesty bill out of a Republican House, I think all options are on the table,” Freedom Caucus member Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, told Politico on Monday.

Since DACA expired on March 5 this year, lawmakers have been scrambling to determine a viable immigration plan to help Dreamers, although President Donald Trump and his closes allies have insisted that any legislation must include support to fund the wall along the southern border. Trump has repeatedly said that Mexico will pay for the wall by reimbursing the U.S. for the cost of it.\

Earlier this year, Trump said on Twitter that “DACA is dead.”

The GOP unsuccessfully attempted to pass a farm bill last week. According to CNN, moderate Republican congressmen are just a few votes away from forcing a vote on a set of immigration bills by “using a procedural maneuver known as a discharge petition.”

Some lawmakers are reportedly attempting to convince other House members to not back this petition. Certain Republicans thus chose to block the farm bill as a way to secure their own vote for a conservative immigration plan.

Reps. Jeff Denham of California, Will Hurd of Texas and Carlos Curbelo of Florida are among the Republicans spearheading the discharge petition.  Two hundred-eighteen signatures are needed for the petition to move to an official immigration debate and vote on the House floor. The passing of the petition would mean that votes would ultimately be held on four immigration issues, including one regarding legal migration and one concerning the protection of Dreamers.

Earlier this year, Virginia Republican Bob Goodlatte presented a bill — supported by Trump — to authorize building the border wall and permit DACA recipients to obtain a 3-year renewable non-immigrant status. This type of status is usually given to people who come to the U.S. temporarily.