White House is open to short-term DACA deal

White House officials have told key Republican leaders on Capitol Hill that President Donald Trump is open to cutting a deal in an upcoming spending bill to protect young immigrants from deportation in exchange for border wall funding, according to four GOP officials briefed on the talks.

The offer could represent a dramatic shift for Trump. In January he insisted on a much broader package of immigration restrictions in exchange for any protections for immigrants commonly referred to as “dreamers” — foreign-born people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or who overstayed their visas as children. Some of them have been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that Trump canceled in September.

Now, with the DACA cancellation tied up in the courts and no clear path forward for stand-alone immigration legislation, the officials, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said Trump is warming to a simpler deal that would allow his administration to start work quickly on a Mexican border wall — a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign.

One idea under consideration is a threeyear extension of the DACA program in exchange for three years of wall funding, according to a GOP official. This official said talks were fluid.

A White House spokesperson declined to comment. Talks are being led by senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and legislative affairs head Marc Short, according to the people familiar with the conversations.

Any deal could come together quickly: Congress must pass a new spending bill before a March 23 deadline, and congressional negotiators are aiming to release draft legislation as soon as this week.

Trump’s willingness to deal comes as congressional leaders had all but given up on acting to protect dreamers before November’s midterm elections.