Lawmakers are racing to strike a deal in two weeks to avoid a government shutdown and, potentially, deportations of some 700,000 young immigrants from the United States.
President Donald Trump has said that any deal to protect the children of illegal immigrants, who have now grown up and are studying or working in the US, must also address immigration reform and include funding for a wall on the Mexican border.
Failure to reach a deal by Jan 19 will delay the passage of a spending Bill that funds the federal government, raising the possibility of a shutdown of federal government offices and services that will have a huge impact on ordinary Americans.
It is not certain if a deal can be reached amid the current bitter partisan atmosphere in Washington. If the stalemate produces a shutdown, Republicans and Democrats will blame each other and the consequences will be dire for whoever is perceived by the American public to be at fault.
New York-based Republican strategist and commentator Evan Siegfried told The Straits Times: "In this climate, especially in a mid-term election year, to get either one of those done - a wall, or Daca - is much harder. I don't think there's bipartisan support for anything."
Daca refers to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), an executive order by former president Barack Obama which allowed undocumented immigrants - known as the Dreamers - who came to the US under the age of 16 to apply for protection from deportation. After a background check, they were able to get renewable two-year permits to work and study in the US. The programme took effect in 2012.
Mr Trump's base wants what he promised - to build a wall more than 3,000km long on the border with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants and drugs out of the US - even though illegal border crossings are already down by more than 70 per cent and a large percentage of illegal immigrants are in fact those who are overstaying their visas.
"The wall is extremely ineffective, a huge waste of taxpayer dollars and turns our back on the values and traditions that speak to the best of who we are as a nation," Mr Gilberto Hinojosa, Democrat Party chairman of Texas - the state with the longest border with Mexico - wrote in an e-mail to The Straits Times.
Mr Trump rescinded Daca last September on the grounds that Mr Obama had ignored Congress. Roughly 700,000 people - mostly Mexicans but also Guatemalans, Koreans, El Salvadorans, Filipinos, Chinese and Indians - had protection under Daca at the time.
Mr Trump has given Congress up to March 5 to produce legislation to address the issue of the Dreamers. But he also wants the wall, and an end to "chain migration" which allows immigrants to sponsor family members.
Last Friday, he tweeted: "The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration."
The Democrats, who are feeling energised, are caught in a conundrum.
Their base will not like an agreement that does not protect the Dreamers, or that funds a border wall, Dr Glenn Altschuler, professor of American studies at Cornell University, told The Straits Times.
But the Republican leadership may believe the public will not support a government shutdown if it was simply to protect Daca recipients, Dr Altschuler added.
"They may be willing to push the Democrats, and tar them with the impact of a government shutdown," he said.
