On Wednesday, President Donald Trump expressed optimism about reaching a bipartisan deal for immigration. He suggested that he is even open to granting citizenship to Dreamers (young immigrants who were brought into the United States as children) after a ten- to twelve-year period as part of a comprehensive plan. The president told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl that if a deal goes through, he is open to giving an extension to the March deadline for ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
This program protects roughly 800,000 undocumented immigrants; Trump said that the DACA recipients should not worry. He told reporters at an Impromptu White House news conference that the DACA recipients should not worry because the problem was going to be solved. When the president was asked about citizenship, he answered that they were going to morph into it; that it was going to happen.
DACA Citizenship
President Donald Trump went on to say that if over a period of ten to twelve years someone does a great job; it gives them the incentive to do a great job. He said that as long as someone has done a great job, even if it is a little company, that it would be a beautiful thing for them to have the incentive of being able to become a citizen of the US.
The president’s comments come after the White House announced that it would come up with its plan for finding the middle ground with the immigration policy. This move comes after members of Congress of both the Democratic and Republican parties criticized Trump for being unclear about his intentions with the immigration deal.
Trump added that he does not believe Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement that the offer to fund the border wall is now off the table by the new immigration deal. He continued to say that Schumer just said that to avoid the government shutdown. The president said that despite the hostility between the two of them during the shutdown, he was even ready to invite Schumer to a White House meeting again soon.
The president said that he would ask for $25 billion to build the wall. However, he will build it way under the budget. If Congress does not come up with a legislative solution for the DACA recipients, they all face deportation after the March 5th deadline. The temporary spending resolution ends on 8th February, and this raises the possibility of another federal government shutdown.
