Democrats reach deal with Trump over program for immigrant 'dreamers'

Top US House and Senate Democrats say they've reached agreement with President Donald Trump to protect thousands of younger immigrants from deportation and fund some border security enhancements - not including Trump's long-sought border wall.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., left, and Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., right, listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with a bipartisan group

Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., left, and Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., right, listen as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with a bipartisan group Source: AAP

The deal announced by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi follows a Trump-hosted White House dinner and will enshrine protections for the nearly 800,000 immigrants brought illegally to this country as children under former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program.

The program provided temporary work permits and protection from deportation.

Trump ended the program earlier this month and gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix before the statuses of the so-called "Dreamers" begin to expire.

"We agreed to enshrine the protections of DACA into law quickly, and to work out a package of border security, excluding the wall, that's acceptable to both sides," Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
It is the second time in two weeks that Trump has cut out Republicans to reach a deal with Pelosi and Schumer. A person briefed on the meeting, who demanded anonymity to discuss it, said the deal specifies bipartisan legislation called the DREAM Act that provides eventual citizenship for the young immigrants.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but said in its own statement that the president had had "a constructive working dinner" with Schumer, Pelosi and administration officials "to discuss policy and legislative priorities," including DACA.

"This is a positive step toward the President's strong commitment to bipartisan solutions for the issues most important to all Americans," the White House said.
During a White House meeting with moderate House members from both parties earlier Wednesday, Trump had urged lawmakers to come up with a bipartisan solution.

"We don't want to forget DACA," Trump told the members at the meeting.

"We want to see if we can do something in a bipartisan fashion so that we can solve the DACA problem and other immigration problems."

The apparent deal is the latest example of Trump's sudden pivot to bipartisanship after months of railing against Democrats as "obstructionist."

He has urged them to join him in overhauling the nation's tax code, among other priorities.

Share
2 min read
Published 14 September 2017 12:49pm
Updated 14 September 2017 7:34pm


Share this with family and friends