Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, has been privately floating the idea of a DACA fix that would give legal status to the programs' recipients in exchange for tighter border security, The Hill reports.
The plan would be to codify DACA and extend it for three years, but does not include a path to citizenship.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, allowed people who illegally came to the United States as children with their parents to stay if they met certain criteria. President Donald Trump in September said his administration was ending DACA and giving a gridlocked Congress until March 2018 to decide what happens to the 800,000-plus young people affected.
Trump has called on lawmakers to find a bipartisan solution to protect DACA recipients from deportation, but has repeatedly demanded any agreement must include funding for a border wall with Mexico.
"I just have been making the point that for those of us who want to get something done, we haven't looked at some sort of skinnied-down version," of immigration reform, said Portman Tuesday.
"Focus on what's doable," he added. "I've talked to Democrats and Republicans."
The proposal has been floated before, but the Hill reports Portman's measure is picking up support among Senate Republicans.
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