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The White House leaders are seeking to push Republicans to a consensus on immigration. They are racing time as they try to defuse a threatening civil war in the GOP that would damage their hopes. They want to keep everything under their control for the elections in November.

But on Thursday morning, Republicans planned a meeting on this topic.

The GOP Split

The problem is what to do with long-time illegal residents. If someone’s parents brought them here as a child, should they be able to apply for citizenship? Whereas most Republicans want to take a hard stand against illegal immigration, some want to make this the exception.

On Wednesday, GOP lawmakers announced that Paul Ryan, the 54^th Speaker, will present ideas for resolving the Republicans’ split. They need to be careful as their decisions could damage the party’s relations with moderate and Hispanic voters.

Republican Carlos Curbelo is one leader who threatened to force votes if they can't make a deal with conservatives. Now, he says that there is some loose consensus among party members. Mark Meadows, another Republican, said that Ryan is going to present a couple concepts that should bring the Republicans together.

No Exemptions

Republicans Jeff Denham and Carlos Curbelo, and other moderates only need two more signatures from the GOP. The petition is planned to require immigration votes if all Democrats sign in. If a meeting on Thursday doesn’t result in an accord, they could reach that tipping point very soon.

The major problem that GOP has is how to offer citizenship to young immigrants that came to the United States illegally when they were children. Conservatives don’t want to make a special way for them to become citizens as they think this would be opening the door to amnesty.

A member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Republican Scott Perry, said that there is rule of law in the United States and that nobody is going to get special treatment.

Liberal Legislation?

Conservatives and GOP leaders state that the votes the moderates want to force are probably going to produce a very liberal legislation. They say that all Democrats will join a few Republicans to push it through the White House.