Trump seeks border wall, crackdown on
unaccompanied minors for 'Dreamer' deal
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[October 09, 2017]
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump, who pledged to help protect young people known as
"Dreamers" brought illegally to the United States as children, called on
Sunday for money to fund a border wall to be part of any immigration
deal.
In a list of "principles" laid out in documents released by the White
House, the Trump administration also pressed for a crackdown on
unaccompanied minors who enter the United States, many of them from
Central America.
The plan, which was delivered to leaders in Congress on Sunday night,
drew a swift rebuke from Democrats, who are seeking a legislative fix
for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that Trump
ended last month.
“The administration can't be serious about compromise or helping the
Dreamers if they begin with a list that is anathema to the Dreamers, to
the immigrant community and to the vast majority of Americans," said
House of Representatives Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
“The list includes the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the
negotiations. If the president was serious about protecting the
Dreamers, his staff has not made a good faith effort to do so,” they
said in a statement.
The Trump administration wants the wish list to guide immigration reform
in Congress and accompany a bill to replace DACA, the Obama-era program
that protected nearly 800,000 "Dreamers" from deportation and allowed
them to secure work permits.
If enacted, the White House priorities could result in the deportation
of Dreamers' parents.
The proposals emphasize immigration enforcement and include a request
for funds to hire 370 more immigration judges, 1,000 attorneys for the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, 300 federal prosecutors and
10,000 additional ICE agents to enforce immigration laws.
"These priorities are essential to mitigate the legal and economic
consequences of any grant of status to DACA recipients," Trump's
legislative affairs director, Marc Short, told reporters on a conference
call. The White House made clear it would not be pushing for Dreamers to
achieve U.S. citizenship, only legal status, in a potential deal.
Trump told Congress it had six months to come up with legislation to
help Dreamers, who are a fraction of the 11 million illegal immigrants
in the United States, most of whom are Hispanic.
The documents call for tighter standards for those seeking U.S. asylum,
denial of federal grants to "sanctuary cities" that serve as refuges for
illegal immigrants, and a requirement that employers use an electronic
verification system known as "E-Verify" to keep illegal immigrants from
securing jobs.
HARD LINE
Trump campaigned for president on a pledge to toughen immigration
policies and build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. He vowed
repeatedly that Mexico would pay for the wall, but began prodding
Congress earlier this year to approve funding. Mexico has said it will
not pay for the wall.
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President Donald Trump talks to the media on South Lawn of the White
House in Washington before his departure to Greensboro, North
Carolina, U.S., October 7, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Trump's suggestion after a meeting with Schumer and Pelosi that wall
funding would not have to be part of a DACA fix alarmed some of his
supporters.
The White House sees the wall as a priority but has indicated that
it could be established as part of a DACA bill or through other
legislative avenues. Administration officials said that legislation
that did not include all of the priorities on the list would not
necessarily trigger a presidential veto.
Republicans in Congress have introduced several bills that include
aspects of Trump’s ideas, but many Democrats and immigration groups
see the proposals as too harsh.
“The Trump administration has put forth a serious proposal to
address the enforcement of our immigration laws and border
security," said Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob
Goodlatte in a statement. "We cannot fix the DACA problem without
fixing all of the issues that led to the underlying problem of
illegal immigration in the first place.”
The White House's wish list targets the flow of unaccompanied minors
into the United States. It would require such children to be treated
the same, regardless of their countries of origin "so long as they
are not victims of human trafficking and can be safely returned home
or removed to safe third countries," the White House documents said.
It would expand the list of "inadmissible aliens" to include members
of gangs, those who have been convicted of an aggravated felony, and
former spouses and children of drug and human traffickers if they
receive benefits from such behavior.
The plan also seeks to reduce the number of people who overstay
their visas and reform how green cards that establish legal
permanent residents are granted.
Trump's White House has so far not been able to achieve a major
legislative victory, casting doubt on the potential for a
breakthrough on immigration reform, which Republican and Democratic
presidents have tried before without success.
Since Trump took office in January, his fellow Republicans have
failed to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack
Obama's Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and a White House
plan for tax reform needs more support.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan,
Ginger Gibson and Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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