Some of President Trump’s closest advisers are reportedly trying to convince him to offer protection to undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers--who were brought to the U.S. illegally as kids--in exchange for concessions like funding for the border wall and tougher legal immigration standards from Congress.
Some of President Trump’s closest advisers are reportedly trying to convince him to offer protection to undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers--who were brought to the U.S. illegally as kids--in exchange for concessions like funding for the border wall and tougher legal immigration standards from Congress.
According to McClatchy, which broke the story based on several inside sources, the group lobbying for such a deal includes “former and current White House chiefs of staff, Reince Priebus and John Kelly, the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who both serve as presidential advisers.”
Vice President Mike Pence is also thought to be on board.
However, the publication says, “...a smaller group — including Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his former aides, Stephen Miller, who serves as Trump’s senior policy adviser, and Rick Dearborn, White House deputy chief of staff — opposes citizenship, according to sources familiar with the discussions.”
A dilemma Trump could face if he agrees to such a plan is that he would be going back on a campaign promise to “immediately terminate President Obama’s illegal executive order on immigration.”
The executive action included protection for so-called Dreamers under the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, reports the Huffington Post.
As such, Trump could be facing a potential loss of support from conservative groups who backed him, in part, over his hardline stance on immigration.
Breitbart has already criticized the plan reported by McClatchy, noting, "If the President accedes, this may be his ‘[Angela] Merkel moment’ — reflective of the German chancellor who compromised on her nation’s borders and rule of law."
