US hardens immigration stance

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump is hardening his demands for a deal to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation, a dispute with congressional Democrats
that hangs over talks this week to avoid a government shutdown.
Any deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, must also forbid immigrants from sponsoring family members to join them in the US, end a
program that allots visas to people from countries with low rates of migration to America, and provide money for a wall on the Mexican border, a White House spokesman said. The statement echoed a Trump tweet from last week.
“The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration etc,” the president wrote. “We must protect our Country at all cost!” He added, “Democrats are doing nothing for DACA – just interested in politics.”
Two top White House officials, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Legislative Director Marc Short, will meet with congressional leaders of both parties to discuss a spending plan for fiscal 2018, an issue Congress repeatedly punted last year. The White House and Capitol Hill Republicans say the meeting will be limited to the issue of caps on domestic and defense spending. Any effort to bring up issues other than the caps, like immigration, will be considered a distraction, a senior Republican aide said.
But the Democratic leaders are under pressure from Latinos to use the spending legislation as leverage to force Trump’s hand on protection for the young immigrants brought to the US as children whom advocates call “Dreamers.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi – plan to do just that and raise DACA, among other issues, according to a Democratic aide and a letter that Pelosi sent to House Democrats.
Democratic leaders have pushed for a “global” agreement that encompasses spending caps and immigration, as well
as deals on disaster relief, electronic surveillance and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.