After Setback, Democrats Vow to Push Ahead on Immigration Overhaul

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats vowed connected Monday to proceed their efforts to assistance ineligible presumption to millions of undocumented immigrants, a centerpiece of President Biden’s migration plan, aft a apical Senate authoritative rejected their bid to see it successful their $3.5 trillion societal argumentation bill.

Sunday’s decision by the Senate parliamentarian threatened to scuttle what Mr. Biden and Democrats had considered their champion accidental successful decades to enact an inaugural that has been stymied amid partisan polarization and procedural obstacles. If they cannot bash truthful arsenic portion of the far-reaching home argumentation measure, Democrats are improbable to person different accidental portion they power the White House and some houses of Congress.

Top Democrats huddled connected Monday to sermon different ways to proceed, and pro-immigration activists, demoralized and outraged by the ruling from the Senate’s rules enforcer, promoted a ample rally successful D.C. and pledged aggravated lobbying efforts to effort to alteration the outcome.

“It saddened me. It frustrated me. It angered maine due to the fact that truthful galore lives are astatine stake,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the bulk leader. “We’re going to proceed our fight.”

Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said lawmakers would conscionable again with the parliamentarian to effort antithetic strategies aft she ruled that the connection Democrats had offered did not person a nonstop capable interaction connected the national fund to beryllium included successful the package.

“I surely mean to support moving until we get to a yes,” helium said. “We’re not going to instrumentality nary for an answer.”

Democrats, who program to propulsion done their $3.5 trillion societal information nett program nether peculiar fund rules that shield it from a filibuster, are considering loading up the measurement with respective of their apical argumentation priorities, investigating the limits of Senate rules that strictly bounds what tin beryllium included.

Among those proposals is 1 to assistance ineligible presumption to respective categories of undocumented people, including those brought to the United States arsenic children, known arsenic Dreamers; immigrants who were granted Temporary Protected Status for humanitarian reasons; radical moving successful the state nether nonimmigrant visas; adjacent to 1 cardinal farmworkers; and millions much who are deemed “essential workers.”

Pro-immigration activists had pushed the program arsenic their champion accidental this Congress to amended the lives of millions of immigrants, aft attempts to scope a bipartisan woody with Republicans connected a abstracted portion of authorities fell apart.

But Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, wrote connected Sunday that the “policy changes of this connection acold outweigh the budgetary interaction scored to it and it is not due for inclusion successful reconciliation,” according to a transcript of her determination obtained by The New York Times.

That sent Democrats grasping for an alternate and energized activists to propulsion back. Some called connected Senate Democrats to overrule Ms. MacDonough. Others called for her to beryllium fired. Still others said they planned to crook up the governmental vigor connected Democrats if they failed to present an migration overhaul portion the enactment controls some chambers of Congress and the presidency.

“People are upset, angry, determined,” said Frank Sharry, the manager of the pro-immigrant enactment America’s Voice. “We’re optimistic we tin get to yes. If that doesn’t happen, past we’ll instrumentality it from there.”

Lorella Praeli, the co-president of Community Change Action, which has been pressing for an migration overhaul, called Ms. MacDonough a “clear governmental actor,” and said that Democrats should not beryllium bound by her advice.

She “serves astatine the pleasance of the bulk leader,” Ms. Praeli said. “Nobody gets to fell down her this year.”

With the parliamentarian’s decision, proponents were looking into respective different options they could prosecute to effort to bring astir the aforesaid result, including moving up the day for a process known arsenic immigration registry. Registry allows different law-abiding undocumented immigrants who person been successful the United States continuously since a definite day to set their presumption and summation a pathway to citizenship.

The existent date, established successful 1986, is acceptable astatine Jan. 1, 1972, disqualifying the Dreamers and galore others; mounting a new, much caller day would beryllium a elemental mode to let them to summation ineligible status. Mr. Menendez said helium favored the enactment due to the fact that Democrats could reason that they were “not changing the law; we are conscionable updating a date.”

But Republicans argued the proposals had nary spot successful the reconciliation bill.

“After decades of failing to enact their amnesty agenda, Democrats tried this latest, unprecedented gambit,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the apical Republican. “It was inappropriate, and I’m gladsome it failed.”

Many migration activists refused to judge defeat.

“It’s an important infinitesimal for our country,” said Kerri Talbot, the lawman manager of the Immigration Hub. “We’ve been trying to enactment with Republicans for galore years, but they person failed to travel to the table, and truthful we spot this arsenic an accidental to spell up and code immoderate of the issues that person been waiting to beryllium addressed for decades.”

Activists urged supporters to articulation a march connected Tuesday, led by CASA and the Service Employees International Union, with stops extracurricular the Washington, D.C., office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Capitol, to telephone for a way to citizenship for millions of undocumented migrants.

The parliamentarian is simply a little-known but important fig successful the beingness of the Senate, which is mostly governed by precedents and arcane rules that are taxable to interpretation. The station becomes peculiarly important erstwhile it comes to reconciliation, which is expected to beryllium constricted to provisions that person a nonstop interaction connected national spending oregon revenues.

A nonpartisan vocation authoritative who has worked successful the parliamentarian’s bureau since 1999, Ms. MacDonough has heard elaborate arguments from some sides successful closed-door meetings connected the migration proposal.

Ms. MacDonough’s decisions are simply advisory, but respective Democratic senators person indicated they would beryllium reluctant to overrule her, and it is not wide that a bulk would enactment doing truthful to triumph adoption of the migration plan. She did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Mr. Menendez pushed backmost against calls for her ouster, saying they were “not constructive.”

The budgetary outgo of the changes successful migration instrumentality — which impact wellness attraction benefits, Medicaid spending and taxation credits — exceeds $139 cardinal implicit 10 years, according to preliminary figures from the Congressional Budget Office. Democrats estimation the legalization propulsion would adhd $1.5 trillion to the U.S. system implicit the adjacent decade, creating much than 400,000 jobs.