President Trump , Citizenship , Immigrants , Millions of Immigrants , Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants
WASHINGTON
— President Trump on Tuesday appeared to endorse a sweeping immigration
deal that would eventually grant millions of undocumented immigrants a
pathway to citizenship, saying he would be willing to “take the heat”
politically for an approach that many of his hard-line supporters have
long viewed as unacceptable.
The
president made the remarks during an extended meeting with
congressional Republicans and Democrats who are weighing a shorter-term
agreement that would extend legal status for undocumented immigrants
brought to the United States as children. Mr. Trump has said such a deal
must be accompanied by new money for a border wall and measures to
limit immigrants from bringing family members into the country in the
future, conditions he repeated during the meeting on Tuesday.
But in backing a broader immigration measure, Mr. Trump was giving a rare public glimpse of an impulse he has expressed privately to advisers and lawmakers
— the desire to preside over a more far-reaching solution to the status
of the 11 million undocumented immigrants already living and working in
the United States. Such action has the potential to alienate the
hard-line immigration activists who powered his political rise and
helped him win the presidency, many of whom have described it as amnesty
for lawbreakers.
“If
you want to take it that further step, I’ll take the heat,” Mr. Trump
told Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who floated
the idea during the meeting in the White House Cabinet Room on Tuesday.
“You are not that far away from comprehensive immigration reform.”
The
White House meeting was extraordinary, an extended negotiating session
that was televised by the news channels. Mr. Trump repeatedly went back
to his call for a broad and comprehensive immigration bill, even as
Democratic and Republican lawmakers cautioned him of the failures of the
past. Some Republicans pointedly said Mr. Trump was being too
ambitious. Even Democrats worried that more immediate immigration
matters might fail to pass with the broader package now on the table.
Mr.
Trump said he supported a two-phase approach that would first codify
the protections created under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals, the Obama-era program that he has moved to end
by March, and then address other undocumented immigrants. Democrats
have insisted that the program, which grants reprieves from deportation
and work permits to immigrants brought to the United States without
authorization as children, be part of any longer-term agreement to fund
the government beyond Jan. 19, when current funding expires.
But
the president said action on the more ambitious immigration measure
would be possible “the next afternoon.” Previous attempts to enact such a
broad bipartisan immigration compromise, during the Obama presidency
and the presidency of George W Bush, proved politically impossible.
Comprehensive immigration bills passed the Senate in 2006 and in 2013 only to be stymied in the House.
“You created an opportunity here, Mr. President,” Mr. Graham said to Mr. Trump, “and you need to close the deal.”
Seated
with members of both parties during a meeting at the White House to
discuss a narrower immigration agreement, the president said there was
room for a compromise on DACA.
“We have something in common,” Mr. Trump said of Democrats. "We’d like to see this get done.”
But
the president said he would insist on strict new immigration limits as
part of any such measure, calling it a “bill of love.” Laying out
conditions that many Democrats view as nonstarters, Mr. Trump said the
legislation must fortify the nation’s borders; end “chain migration,” a
term used by immigration critics to refer to immigrants’ ability to
bring members of their extended family to the United States after
gaining their own legal status; and cancel the diversity visa lottery program.
“I
really do believe Democrat and Republican, the people sitting in this
room, really want to get something done,” Mr. Trump said.
Senator
Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and a leading proponent of
codifying the DACA protections, said members of his party would support
some border security measures, but noted that action to shield
undocumented immigrants from deportation was urgent, given that their
grants of legal status will begin expiring in early March.
“Lives are hanging in the balance,” Mr. Durbin said. “We’ve got the time to do it.”
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