Of course, the entire reason the senators asked Kelly for the White House’s demands in December was that they hadn’t taken the October wish list seriously. Thom Tillis had high praise for President Donald Trump’s leadership during a bipartisan immigration reform meeting at the White House Tuesday, commending his willingness to be flexible on key issues in the negotiation and for allowing the press to observe the proceedings for almost an hour – a grant of access unprecedented under the Trump administration. What we seem destined to see instead is the art of no deal. It deserves to be thrown into the nearest circular filing cabinet, and opposition from the White House thankfully ensures that it will be.
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One person with direct knowledge of that meeting said Durbin and Graham hadn’t expected the three GOP lawmakers to be there.
Speaking at a press conference with the Norwegian prime minister in the White House, Mr Trump also reiterated his commitment to erecting his proposed border wall with Mexico. This week the administration provided lawmakers with a DHS document with more information about each of its priorities.
“I really do believe Democrat and Republican, the people sitting in this room, really want to get something done”, Trump said. Democrats are pushing for protections for Dreamers in exchange for increased border security.
Trump, under pressure from some conservatives, has said any DACA deal with Democrats must include ending “chain migration”, which could jeopardize the parents of Dreamers who are still in the United States illegally, and a visa lottery program.
Late last week, they ostensibly got their reply: The White House sent the exact same document it had released in October, outlining an immigration “framework” that posited an overhaul of asylum laws, stepped-up interior enforcement, and a broad crackdown on legal immigration on the scale of the Trump-endorsed RAISE Act.
Now it’s up to the president, the speaker of the house and every important Republican in Washington to explain to the public why it’s so important for DACA and border security to be done together. Anyhow, where will we find the estimated $18 billion for the wall, since we just slashed government revenues with the recent tax reform. Drugs are pouring into our country at a record pace.
For that, he has his critics. Dianne Feinstein to consider a “clean” Dream Act mysteriously went missing from the official transcript. I want safety and security for our people. “He’s a fine and admirable general … but we flat disagree on this”.
Speaker Paul Ryan says that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legislation will not be on the table in budget talks after Donald Trump refused to accept a deal that would have included it. He also attended a meeting with a dozen senators December 19 on Capitol Hill.
Democrats and other supporters of the so-called DREAMers have called for a legislative implementation of DACA to be attached to a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government funded beyond January 19. He said that previous beneficiaries of DACA, known as Dreamers, must be allowed to renew their status in the program, although the government would not be required to accept new applications from immigrants who had not previously submitted one.
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“I think it was an egregious decision”, he said Wednesday.
