President Trump recently had a meeting with lawmakers about immigration policy. Two topics were the main focus that brought this group together.
DACA and the border wall were the issues at hand. After the discussion, Trump seemingly assured lawmakers that he would support the Dreamers so he could have his wall.
Everyone didn’t support the decision Trump had made. It was believed that many conservatives would be appalled by such a stance.
Even with the meeting taking place, a Judge had blocked Trump from deporting those benefiting from DACA.
Most Dreamers could spend at least 2 more years without worry. Those who had less time could apply for the additional two years.
Disgust
Some who supported Trump were disgusted at any deal to continue DACA. One such person was former Republican Senator Rick Santorum. He said “I don’t support doing DACA, period.”
“If we don’t have some sort of enforcement at the borders, some sort of laws in place to make sure that we aren’t going to have this immigration problem again, then there’s no point in creating any kind of amnesty or any kind of relief for people who are here now,” Santorum continued.
This topic had been emotional from the get go. Many people would be separated from loved ones in America. Many relationships formed could suffer as well.
“But, as you heard from the President, he’s flexible that the wall can be, yes, some wall and some other things that are included in addition to the wall,” Santorum said.
DACA Lives
“I’ll take all the heat you want,” Trump said. “But you are not that far away from comprehensive immigration reform.”
Democrats lawmakers wanted a deal. This meeting may have given them just that.
“I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,” Trump said.
“I think a clean DACA bill, to me, is a DACA bill, but we take care of the 800,000 people,” Trump said. “But I think, to me, a clean bill is a bill of DACA, we take care of them, and we also take care of security.”
All of this seemed to suggest DACA was safe but it still needed to be made official.
“The sense of urgency, the commitment to DACA, the fact that the President said to me privately as well as publicly, ‘I want to get this done,’ I’m going to take him as his word,” Dick Durbin said.
Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democratic leader wanted the deal to go through.
“There are scores of Republicans who have shifted their position to follow the President,” said Rep. Steve King.
He said “I don’t want to promise the result will be the same. This is more momentum than I have ever seen.”
Durbin comments referred to a bipartisan immigration effort in 2013. The Dreamers have high hopes; time will tell if Democrats could pull it off.