President Trump said Friday that Democrats in Congress have given up on an immigration deal, and that protections for young illegal immigrants with temporary work permits and low deportation priority may lapse because of it.
“The Senate Democrats and the House Democrats have totally abandoned DACA, they don’t even talk to me about it. They have totally abandoned it,” he said, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
A widely discussed theory among Republicans is that Democrats want to keep the popular cause alive by refusing to accept a deal. Democratic leaders counter that Trump has been impossible to work with, allegedly agreeing to and then reneging on compromises.
Trump allowed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to announce last year a wind-down of the program, which has given temporary status to about 800,000 young people brought to the U.S. without legal permission by their parents, setting up the current legislative battle.
Former President Barack Obama created the program by executive order in 2012 after Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats blocked passage of the DREAM Act. Skeptics said Obama lacked the legal authority, and federal courts ruled against a plan to expand eligibility.
Trump said Friday that making DACA protections permanent “is Republican” but that he believes it may be impossible without more Republicans in Congress.
“We get the reputation like DACA, it’s not Republican. Well let me tell you, it is Republican. Because we want to do something about DACA, get it solved after all these years,” Trump said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“The Democrats are being totally unresponsive. They don’t want to do anything about DACA, I’m telling you. And it’s very possible that DACA won’t happen and it’s not because of the Republicans, it’s because of the Democrats. And frankly, you better elect more Republicans, folks, or it will never happen,” Trump said.
Trump and Republican leaders in Congress, along with most Democrats, support a pathway to citizenship for the young cohort, estimated at about 1.8 million people eligible for DACA, but negotiations have been unsuccessful.
The White House, led by immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, has pushed for permanent cuts to lawful immigration by ending a visa lottery system and limiting family chain migration to children and spouses.
A bill that would adopt the Trump administration’s three concession demands, including border-wall funding, was sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, but got only 39 votes on Feb. 15, not enough to clear the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber.
A different proposal, supported by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and backed by eight Senate Republicans, got 54 votes, also too few. That measure would not have ended the visa lottery system or limited chain migration except for among DACA-eligible people who become citizens.
The Trump administration originally intended to begin a DACA phase-out on March 5, but federal court rulings have halted cancelation plans.
