WASHINGTON _ Sen. Lindsey Graham wants to be Congress' lead negotiator on changing the nation's immigration system, but the South Carolina Republican is facing potentially insurmountable challenges.
What would ordinarily give him stature as a valuable dealmaker �� his history of compromising with Democrats and his close relationship with President Donald Trump �� could be liabilities.
Trump was elected in part for promising to limit legal immigration. The president this past week questioned the value of admitting immigrants from "shithole countries" into the United States supported that notion.
Graham has probably had a better relationship with Trump than most of his colleagues, with a direct line to the Oval Office and frequent golfing invitations.
He might, though, have weakened his bargaining position with a leader who doesn't like to be called out. Graham was at the meeting when Trump made his incendiary comments, and did not deny reports Friday that he personally challenged Trump for making the remarks.
But Graham's vulnerabilities as an immigration power broker have deeper roots.
"Look, we had an election in 2016. Two members of the 'Gang of Eight' ran for president," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. "The American people didn't want (their) style of immigration reform. Donald Trump won."
The "Gang of Eight" was a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who wrote the path-to-citizenship bill that passed the Senate in 2013 but went nowhere in the House. The two members of that group who ran for president were Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is not involved in the most current immigration negotiations, and Graham.
Hardliners aren't the only skeptics.
Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., who has been pushing for an immigration deal that includes a path to citizenship, said that while Graham was a valuable negotiator, he could see where lawmakers with less political baggage might be critical to success.
"The modern history of immigration reform in Congress is a history of failure," Curbelo said. "It would be helpful to have new voices and new faces. It doesn't mean those with scars from past battles are not needed, but new protagonists are necessary."
On paper, it would appear that Graham has all the credentials necessary to lead talks on a deal to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, President Barack Obama's 2012 administrative action that grants stays from deportation for roughly 800,000 immigrants brought illegally into the country by their parents as children. Trump has said he would end the program in March unless Congress keeps it alive and agrees to enact tougher border security measures as a condition.
Graham has worked on the issue for years and knows the political consequences. For years, he's built a reputation as conservative with an appetite for making compromises with Democrats.
In an interview as lawmakers were on the cusp of reaching a deal, Graham was candid about his contributions.
"The one thing I bring to the table is I've been working on this for 12 years," Graham said. "I know the topic pretty well, substantively. Politically, I understand the land mines. I understand that now is the moment."
Graham is correct that 2018 would appear to be the year for action on some comprehensive immigration legislation. Unlike five years ago, Republicans now control Congress and the White House, creating a chance to bridge even the fiercest ideological divides within the GOP.
Graham and Senate Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois presented an agreement to Trump and fellow lawmakers Thursday at the White House, where the president made his inflammatory remarks. The proposal included a path to citizenship and enforcement provisions, but hard-liners like Cotton called the deal "a joke," and Trump told negotiators to come up with something else.
Conservatives in both chambers like a new bill introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., but that measure is far narrower than many Republicans would like and would get few if any Democratic votes.
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(Lesley Clark contributed to this report.)
