Trump, Democrats trade jabs over DACA

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, on Twitter on Friday, accused Democrats of abandoning “Dreamers” because they wouldn’t back his immigration plan. Trump tweeted: “Cannot believe how BADLY DACA recipients have been treated by the Democrats… totally abandoned! Republicans are still working hard.”

Unable to pass immigration legislation Thursday, the Senate has left hundreds of thousands of young illegal aliens in limbo, rejecting rival plans that would have spared them from deportation and strengthened the nation’s border security.

The Senate votes left the young illegal aliens facing a March 5 deadline that Trump has given Congress to restore the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, that he annulled last year. Federal courts have blocked him temporarily from dismantling President Barack Obama’s initiative, but without congressional action, the immigrants will face growing risks of deportation as their protections expire.

Program recipients, sometimes called Dreamers, are young people who were

brought to the U.S. as children and now risk deportation because they lack permanent authorization to stay. DACA gives them the ability to live and work in the U.S. for two-year periods that can be renewed.

“It looks like demagogues on the left and the right win again on immigration,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who helped craft the bipartisan package but also backed Trump’s plan. He added, “The only way forward is for President Trump to grab the

reins and lead us to a solution.”

That scenario wasn’t in sight Thursday. The White House trashed the bipartisan proposal as “dangerous policy that will harm the nation,” denouncing a provision directing the government to prioritize enforcement efforts against people who arrive illegally — beginning in July. Trump proved unwilling to fold on his demands for a tougher bill, reflecting the hard-line immigration stance that fueled his presidential run.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed Democrats for failing

to accept what he said was a “generous” offer from Trump.

“They turned away from a golden opportunity to solve the issue,” said McConnell. He expressed openness to considering a future compromise but said, “For that to happen, Democrats will need to take a second look” at Trump’s demands.

Trump had proposed a chance at citizenship for 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants, meeting a top Democratic demand. But that plan also included $25 billion to build his border wall with Mexico and enact other border security measures, tighter curbs on relatives

whom legal immigrants could sponsor for citizenship and an end to a visa lottery that encourages immigration from diverse nations.

No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas said after the votes that lawmakers might consider temporarily protecting Dreamers from deportation in a governmentwide spending measure Congress will consider next month.

He said that approach “to me is not great, but that’s kind of where we are.”

Democrats said Trump was the major hindrance to a broader deal.

“This vote is proof that

President Trump’s plan will never become law,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York. “If he would stop torpedoing bipartisan efforts, a good bill would pass.”

The Senate derailed Trump’s proposal by a vote of 39-60 — 21 votes shy of the 60 yes votes it needed to survive.

Fourteen Republicans joined 46 Democrats in opposition. The “no” votes included some of the chamber’s most conservative Republicans, many of whom were uncomfortable with offering citizenship to people here illegally.

Just three Democrats backed Trump’s proposal, all of them facing dicey November re-election in states he carried easily in 2016: Indiana’s Joe Donnelly, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin.

The vote on the bipartisan plan was 54-45, six short of the required 60. Eight Republicans who helped craft that compromise supported it, and three Democrats voted “no,” including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who is viewed as a 2020 presidential hopeful.

Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Taylor of The Associated Press.