House Democrats released their own comprehensive immigration proposal Wednesday, hoping to put renewed pressure on the Republican majority to move forward on stalled border legislation.
But GOP aides quickly dismissed the proposal and said it was unlikely to get a vote in the chamber, reducing the bill to a symbolic attempt to keep immigration reform alive.
Democrats fear that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is intent on killing momentum for immigration reform by dragging out the process. Immigration advocates are planning a day of action Saturday in dozens of cities across the country, followed by a rally on the National Mall on Tuesday.
The Democrats' plan amends a comprehensive bill approved by the Senate in June by striking a controversial border security measure that would add 700 miles (1,125 km) of fencing and 20,000 border control agents along the U.S.-Mexican border.
In its place, the Democratic lawmakers substituted a border proposal, passed unanimously by the House Homeland Security Committee, that would require the Department of Homeland Security to write a plan to ensure the apprehension of 90 percent of illegal border crossers in high-traffic areas within two years and across the entire southern border within five years. The provision does not set a price or time line.