Democrats look to infrastructure as last chance on immigration reform

After months of fruitless bipartisan talks, Democrats are turning their last hopes for immigration reform to an infrastructure bill and a complicated budget plan that has never before been tested.

It's a massive gamble for a party that has been promising to deliver on immigration reform for more than a decade, but key advocates argue it is the last hope -- potentially in this Congress -- for anything to pass. Democrats are looking to set aside $120 billion for a pathway to citizenship for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, farm workers, essential workers and people with Temporary Protected Status, according to a source familiar with negotiations. But deciding who specifically will qualify for those protections is still a work in progress, sources say. The biggest question is whether Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough would allow immigration provisions to be included under the special budget process known as reconciliation at all. MacDonough is responsible for advising the chamber on how its rules, protocols and precedents operate.