Trump demands wall funds for DACA, draws democrats’ rebuke

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump demanded that Congress deliver funding for his border wall and make dramatic changes to immigration policy in exchange for letting young people brought illegally to the US as children stay in the country.
The administration’s proposal, outlined in a briefing by US officials and sent to lawmakers night, was swiftly rejected by top Democrats in Congress, who charged that the president had reneged on an agreement last month to allow about 800,000 so-called Dreamers to remain in the US.
Trump’s plan calls for fully funding his proposed wall on the US-Mexico border, money to hire thousands of additional immigration agents and revamping the asylum system. Its principles are meant as the framework for a legislative reworking of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme that Trump terminated in September with a six-month sunset to allow for congressional action.
“These findings outline reforms that must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients,” Trump said in a letter to Congressional leaders. “Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end.”
Administration officials who briefed reporters described Trump’s principles—including an end to so-called chain migration, in which permanent residents and citizens can sponsor relatives for entry to the US—as neither a veto threat against a DACA bill lacking the provisions or an opening bid.
The move threatens to blow up prospects for a deal on immigration at a time when any policy change would require 60 votes in the
Senate, where Republicans hold just 52 seats.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dined with Trump last month and said afterward that they had reached a tentative accord with the president to advance legislation to replace DACA and protect from deportation undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. The Democrats responded swiftly to Trump’s proposal soon after.
“We told the president at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes so far beyond what is reasonable,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement.
“This proposal fails to represent any attempt at compromise.”
One of the administration officials who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said that Congress should include all of the provisions in legislation that codifies DACA, but declined to say if Trump would accept a bill that includes only some.
The official declined to say which proposals were most critical, only asserting that the various policies worked in tandem.
Trump’s Review
White House Legislative Director Marc Short said a review of US immigration laws ordered by Trump identified shortcomings in three major areas: the ability to promptly remove undocumented immigrants at the border; the enforcement of immigration standards inside the US, including visa overstays; and ending chain migration, which he described as unfair to taxpayers and citizens.
“The agencies’ bottom-up review identified several legislative priorities to fix these problems and modernise our immigration system,” Short said.
The review was carried out by agencies including the departments of Justice, State and Homeland Security, Short said.
Tom Homan, acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said illegal immigration won’t be stopped “unless
we prevent the ‘pull factors’ that drive it.”