Trump’s border wall links to DACA may ease

A top aide WASHINGTON — to President Donald Trump signaled on Tuesday that the White House may back off its calls to pair funding for new border wall construction with a bill to provide legal protections to hundreds of thousands of immigrants known as “Dreamers,” signaling that the emotionally charged issue may prove easier to resolve than initially thought.

Trump last month began a six-month countdown to the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that currently provides legal protections to about 690,000 people, and said it would be up to lawmakers to come up with a solution.

The decision has been widely criticized by members of both parties.

Marc Short, the White House legislative affairs director, said that Trump “believes that a physical barrier is important” between the United States and Mexico. But he said the administration does not “want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on DACA impossible.”

Short’s comments came as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi indicated that House Democrats are quickly coalescing around legislation that would grant legal protections to DACA recipients and set them on a years-long course to apply for U.S. citizenship.

The Dream Act is co-sponsored by Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate.

Pelosi said House Democrats are gathering support for a petition to force House Speaker Paul Ryan to hold a vote on that legislation as early as the first weeks of October.

For such a strategy to succeed, Pelosi would have to obtain signatures from every Democrat in the House and at least 24 Republicans. She said Democrats should act quickly to take advantage of a moment when there appears to be widespread support for extending legal protections for those covered under DACA.

Several recent polls have shows that a majority of voters support extending legal protections for DACA recipients.

But the issue of border wall funding is still likely to emerge as a sticking point in spending talks later this year.