Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Immigration bills
Trump’s comments cause confusion amid legislators
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump ignited eleventh-hour confusion Friday over Republican efforts to push immigration legislation through the House, when he said he wouldn’t sign a “moderate” package. But the White House later walked back the comments, formally endorsing the measure and saying Trump had been confused.
The campaign-season tumult broke out as GOP leaders put finishing touches on a pair of Republican bills: a hard-right proposal and a middle-ground plan negotiated by the party’s conservative and moderate wings, with White House input. Only the compromise bill would open a door to citizenship for young people brought to the U.S. as children and now living here illegally, and reduce the separation of children from their parents when families are detained crossing the border — a practice that has drawn bipartisan condemnation in recent days.
“I’m looking at both of them,” Trump said when asked about the proposals during an impromptu interview on Fox News’ Fox & Friends, adding: “I certainly wouldn’t sign the more moderate one.”
The comment prompted widespread confusion on Capitol Hill. Earlier this week, House Speaker Paul Ryan told his colleagues that Trump supported the middle-ground package, and White House aide Stephen Miller, an immigration hard-liner who has been accused of trying to sabotage immigration deals in the past, told conservative lawmakers at a private meeting that the president backed that plan.
But a senior White House official later said Trump had misspoken and believed his Fox interviewer was asking about an effort by GOP moderates — abandoned for now — that would have forced votes on a handful of bills and likely led to House passage of liberal-leaning versions party leaders oppose. The official, who was not authorized to discuss internal conversations by name, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The interviewer had specifically asked whether Trump supported a conservative bill penned by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., or “something more moderate,” and asked whether he’d sign “either one.”
The White House later put out a statement formally endorsing the measure.
“The President fully supports both the Goodlatte bill and the House leadership bill,” said White House spokesman Raj Shah, adding that Trump would sign “either the Goodlatte or the leadership bills.”
Trump also weighed in by tweet, writing that any bill “MUST HAVE” provisions financing his proposed wall with Mexico and curbing the existing legal-immigration system. Those items are included in the middle-ground package.
“Go for it! WIN!” Trump wrote in a tweet that stopped short of explicitly endorsing the compromise plan.
Despite their policy clashes, both Republican factions have been eager for the votes to be held as a way to show constituents where they stand. In addition, party leaders want to move on from an issue that divides the GOP, complicating their effort to retain House control in November’s elections.
The more conservative measure is seen as virtually certain to lose. Party leaders have nurtured hopes that the compromise version could pass, but Trump’s backing is crucial.
Conservatives are leery of legislation protecting from deportation people living in the U.S. illegally, calling it amnesty. Democrats are expected to solidly oppose both GOP bills, giving Republicans little leeway for losing support.
“When the president says he’s not going to sign it, just shows how low his standards are,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Separately, nearly 2,000 children have been taken from their families at the U.S. border over a six-week period during a crackdown, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
The figures show that 1,995 minors were separated from 1,940 adults from April 19 through May 31. The separations were not broken down by age, and included separations for illegal entry, immigration violations or possible criminal conduct by the adult.
The new figures are for people who tried to enter the U.S. between official border crossings. Asylum seekers who go directly to official crossings are not separated from their families, except in specific circumstances — such as if officials can’t confirm the relationship between the minors and adults, if the safety of the children is in question, or if the adult is being prosecuted.
There were an additional 38 children separated at ports of entry in May through June 6. There were more than 55 in April and a high of 64 in March, according to the figures.
The compromise bill would mandate that children with families seized entering the U.S. be kept together for as long as they are in the custody of the Homeland Security Department, which staffs border facilities and enforces immigration laws. Critics say family separation would still be possible because another agency could take parents being prosecuted into custody.
Spotlighting the political sensitivity of the issue, congressional Republicans have distanced themselves from the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the southern border. The White House has cited the Bible in defending its “zero tolerance” approach to illegal border crossings.