Could Trump’s Immigration Agenda Ever Get Through Congress?

In late June, President Trump met with a dozen or so family members of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants as part of a push for two new laws targeting illegal immigration. “We’re calling on all members of Congress to honor grieving American families by passing these lifesaving measures in the House, in the Senate, and then sending them to my desk for a very rapid signature,” he said at the White House meeting, a day before the lower chamber approved both bills. “I promise you—it will be done quickly.”

Immigration restrictionist groups aren’t so sure about that promise, though they share the president’s desire to curb entries into the United States and force undocumented immigrants out. In their view, and in actuality, the legislation faces difficulty in the Senate, where lawmakers have been mired in a debate over health care and have plans to take up tax reform next.