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Article snippet: Three Republican senators floated a fallback plan Thursday to protect hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants facing deportation in exchange for $25 billion in border security.Senate Republican Conference Chairman MORE (R-Kan.) floated a measure that would extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program indefinitely in exchange for $25 billion in border security funding. It would require DACA recipients to reapply to the program every two years and cap expenditures for border security infrastructure at $5 billion year. March 5 deadline for replacing it. President Obama established the program in 2012 with an executive order, drawing criticism from Republicans, who said he exceeded his constitutional authority. Thune hailed the backstop plan to protect Dreamers as “commonsense legislation” that would extend permanent protection and take a “meaningful step toward enhancing border security.” Portman called it “a sensible and fair solution” that would “codify the protections for the DACA population while also putting in place stronger border security measures consistent with the president’s proposal.” The bill would also require the secretary of Homeland Security to make annual report to the Senate and House Homeland Security panels about the status of fence construction along the U.S.-Mexico border and the estimated number of unlawful crossings. The trio of Republican senators unveiled their backup plan after the Senate defeated three proposal... Link to the full article to read more