Trump floats short-term deal on DACA, border wall funds
He considers dropping overhaul of legal immigration system, visa lottery
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has offered to drop demands for changes to legal immigration preferences to ease the way to a deal providing new temporary protection to immigrants living in the country illegally in exchange for border wall funding, said a person familiar with the offer.
Trump had insisted on a broader agreement that would end immigration preferences for relatives of legal U.S. residents and eliminate visas awarded by lottery to applicants from underrepresented countries, a demand Democratic leaders rejected. Three-year extension
White House officials have shared the potential new offer with Republican congressional leaders, the person said.
The shift brings the two sides closer to a deal that would fund construction for early phases of Trump’s promised border wall and temporarily restore protections against deportation for young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, a group advocates have dubbed “Dreamers.” In September, Trump canceled the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program established by former President Barack Obama, though the deportation protections remain in place under a temporary court order amid a lawsuit over the action.
One idea under consideration is a three-year extension of the DACA program in exchange for three years of wall funding, a GOP official said. This official said the talks, led by senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and legislative affairs head Marc Short, were fluid.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement later Wednesday that the administration opposes a “three for three” deal, which some moderate Republicans already have floated.
Instead, Shah said, Congress ought to include wall funding in the upcoming spending bill as a matter of course.
“Separately, we have never stopped working to negotiate an immigration reform package that addresses DACA, stops illegal immigration and secures and modernizes our legal immigration system,” he said.
Mixed reactions
But Democrats have made clear that they are unwilling to agree to any wall funding absent protections for Dreamers, and the upcoming spending bill is probably the last chance for Trump to lock in a deal ahead of the November midterm elections. And if Democrats retake the House, it will be even more difficult for Trump to demand wall funding.
A deal could come together quickly: Congress must pass a spending bill before a March 23 deadline, and congressional negotiators hope to release draft legislation as soon as this week.
News of the White House offer generated a mixed reactions Wednesday.
“With everything else that’s going on, I just don’t see … the DACA issue being resolved in the next week,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, RTexas, who has backed broader immigration cutbacks. A key Senate Democrat, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, was similarly skeptical: “I’m not thrilled about including anything for a temporary fix.”
Trump’s willingness to make a deal comes as congressional leaders had all but given up on acting to protect Dreamers before November’s midterm elections. A three-year DACA extension could essentially take immigration off the congressional agenda until after the 2020 presidential election by removing the threat of deportation for the young immigrants covered by the program.
Trump on Tuesday inspected eight wall prototypes constructed in the desert south of San Diego as he fights to overcome opposition over the cost of a barrier that was a central promise of his presidential campaign.