Democrats, Republicans trade barbs in tense immigration talks
WASHINGTON: Months of bipartisan negotiations in the US Senate over the fate of young, undocumentedimmigrantsknown as ‘Dreamers’ turned angry on Friday, with the lead Democratic negotiator blasting the White House for making ‘hardline antiimmigrant’ demands.
President Donald Trump in September ordered that an Obamaera programme that prevented young immigrants from being deported should end in six months. The programme is known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
Saving the Dreamers from deportation is a high priority for Democrats, but Republican and Democratic lawmakers have struggled to reach a bipartisan deal.
Senator Dick Durbin, the No.2 Senate Democrat, said the White House on Friday had submitted a list of demands it wanted in order to agree a deal that were simply a repeat of a document it sent to Congress in early October. Democratic leaders rejected those demands at the time.
Further inflaming the negotiations, Durbin said, was an added White House demand for US$18billiontofundtheconstruction of a wall along the southwestern borderwithMexico,despitestaunch Democratic opposition.
Yesterday, congressional Republican leaders are due to huddle with Trump at Camp David, thepresidentialmountainretreat,to discuss 2018 legislative priorities.
Republican and Democratic leaders are also scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to talk about immigration legislation.
Durbin said the latest White House move, coming as Congress also struggles to pass a bill by Jan 19 to fund the government through September, could push federal agencies closer to a shutdown.
Earlier, some congressional Republicans downplayed the likelihood of a deal with Democrats onlegislationtoprotecttheDreamers – some 700,000 young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.
RepublicanSenatorJohnCornyn accused Democrats in a tweet of trying to force a deal on Dreamers by doing a ‘slow walk’ on efforts to approve critical disaster aid and defense spending.
Two other Republicans late on Thursday said the sides remained far apart.
“Our discussions on border security and enforcement with Democrats are much further apart, andthatiskeytogettingabipartisan deal on DACA,” senators Thom Tillis and James Lankford said in a statement.
OnOct8,theWhiteHousereleased a list of immigration ‘principles’ Trump wanted in return for giving Dreamers legislative protection from deportation.
Besides the border wall, it included the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcementagentsand300federal prosecutors.
Immigration advocacy groups fear the hiring expansion would be part of an attempt to round up the adult relatives of Dreamers to ship them to their native countries.
Resubmitting the demands that were dismissed by Democrats three months ago, Durbin said, was ‘outrageous.’ But he added that bipartisan negotiations continue among senators. — Reuters